Julien: We thank you with
enormous gratitude for scaring away the Fossa.
Gloria: The
whossa?
Julien: The Fossa. They're always annoying us by
trespassing, interrupting our parties, and ripping our limbs off--
As a little
kid I would pride myself on knowing quite a number of animals species, with a
special interest for the big cats, so when I watched Madagascar and found I had
no clue what fossae were, I was immediately
interested.
My guess is
you also have no clue what the fossae are. That’s what I’m here for!
This is a Fossa - This picture was take by chris york |
Not too
surprising, (regarding the movie’s name), the fossa lives in Madagascar, an African
island in the Indian Ocean. The fossa is Madagascar's largest mammal predator, and though the movie was right
that most of their food consists of lemurs, they also eat rodents, lizards,
birds and practically every other small animal they can get their paws on.
Instead of
being active only during the day or night, the fossa is active in regular
periods during both. The most common
times are early in the morning, late in the afternoon, and late in the night.
Fossae are
amazing hunters. Although in the movie they attack in huge packs, in reality the
animals usually hunt alone.
They can
hunt on the ground or in the trees.
Their whole body is designed to allow for the best agility, speed and
detection of prey. They have a long tail, as long as its entire body, that he can use as a balancing pole while
climbing. Unlike cats or most other predators the fossa walks on its heels, not
just the toes. This allows for more stability. The fact that they can pull in their claws makes sure
they are always sharp. The fossa can smell, hear and see very well and is an ambush hunter: with the claws
on his front paws he catches its prey, then kills it quickly with a bite from
its teeth .
You (don't) see? No claws. This picture was taken by Nathan Rupert |
As mentioned before, the fossa hunts individually during the
non-breeding season, but during the breeding season hunting parties may be
seen, often consisting of a couple or a mother and her young. One fossa
climbs a tree and chases the lemurs, forcing them down to the ground where the
other is easily able to kill them . This cooperation requires communication. Fossas
communicate using sounds, visual signals and scents ( Throughout the year,
the animals produce long-lasting scent marks on rocks, trees, and the
ground using glands in the anal region and on the chest.
Explorers
first arrived on the island some 2,000 years ago, and scientists believe that
they would have been met by a bizarre assemblage of now-extinct beasts,
including lemurs the size of gorillas and a ten-foot-tall (three-meter-tall)
flightless bird, so the fossa would have been seen as relatively normal.
Megaladapis edwardsi, a lemur that once lived on Madagascar, created by Michael B.H. |
Until
recently scientists thought the fossa, with its feline features, was a
primitive kind of cat or civet. It was a difficult decision because the Fossa has
a long and spiny penis. Cats have a short and spiny penis, while a Civet’s penis
is long and smooth. You see the problem. But in 2003, genetic studies by Anne Yoder and colleagues showed that all flesh-
eating animals living on Madagascar share a common ancestor and that the fossae actually are one of the largest members of the mongoose family.
Remember
the confusing penis story? The whole story gets even weirder. When females are
about 1-2 years of age, they develop an enlarged spiny clitoris. The goal's to make it look like the male’s parts. As they grow older it starts shrinking. The theory is that this is
done to reduce sexual harassment from males or aggression from females towards younger
females.
Due to the
fact that the Fossa is the largest natural predator in Madagascar, it isn’t hunted himself (with
the rare exception of being snapped up by a stray Crocodile). Humans pose the biggest threat to the Fossa since they hunt them to protect
their livestock and have destroyed 90% of the Fossa's natural range. Deforestation
is done forthe wood and to create land for agriculture . Due to the fact that Fossae not only require large solitary home ranges and that they are relatively slow
at developing it is thought that numbers will continue to fall.
Taken by Nathan Rupert |
Want to
help the fossas and have an interesting vacation all in once? Check out this
site:
I will publish a new article about an interesting animal species every weekend.
Do you have an idea for the following animal? Put it in a comment!
Or read this article about pygmy hippos: related to whales, sweat blood and fling poop.
Or read this article about pygmy hippos: related to whales, sweat blood and fling poop.