Fossa Facts

Fossa Facts

They are long, slender-bodied animals. Their short, sleek coats vary from gold- to reddish-brown. They are lean and muscular, which helps them move through trees with ease. Fossas are equipped with sharp feline-like teeth and retractable claws. While otherwise cat-like in appearance, fossas have muzzles similar to dogs and rounded ears like those of a weasel. Relatively large forward-facing eyes provide binocular vision to aid this carnivore in hunting its prey. Typically, their body length ranges from 24 to 32 inches long with tails similar in length. Fossas can weigh as much as 26 pounds, with males typically weighing more than females.

1. Most closely related to civets and mongoose 

2. Principle predator of the lemur. 

3. The Fossa has retractable claws like a cat, but walks flat on its soles like a bear. 

4. Fossas can hang upside-down from trees using their “reversible” ankles, which have tremendous gripping power.

5. Spends much of the time in trees, sleeping during the day & hunting at night 

6. Excellent climbing ability; have short curved retractable claws help it climb down a tree headfirst 

7. Solitary except during breeding season 

8. Excellent sense of sight, hearing & smell 

9. Travel up to 16 miles (26 kilometers) in a day 

10. Scent glands release a stinky smell when the animal is irritated or frightened. 

11. Ecological equivalent of the Clouded leopard of Southeast Asia (Cleveland).

12. The Fossa has no natural predators they are only preyed upon by humans because of their attacks on domestic livestock.

13. The Fossa is very agile being able to jump from tree to tree quickly and easily in much the same manner as a squirrel.

14. The Fossa must have trees to live in if it is to be successful, and the forests of its native Madagascar are being depleted by human habitation at an alarming rate. 

15. Slash-and-burn agriculture has destroyed more than 90 percent of its tropical forest, and the majority of that destruction has occurred in the past 60 years. 

16. The Fossa is cathemeral, hunting and napping around the clock on no set schedule. 

17. Cathemeral- Relating to organisms that have sporadic and random intervals during the day or night in which food is acquired.

18. Fossa predation is critical because it prevents some members of the island's primate family from outcompeting others. This helps maintain both mammal and plant diversity, since lemurs are important dispersers of plant seeds. 

19. Fossas are most closely related to other Malagasy carnivores now currently classified in the family Eupleridae so not as closely related to civets. Although, the Fossa is so cat-like, that it was originally classified as a member of the family Felidae, which includes lions, tigers, domestic cats and other felines as its members.