Are you getting my good side?
Thatssa fossa . . .
Still don’t have much of a grasp on what a fossa is? Cat? Bear? Face like a weasel and tail like a monkey, the fossa is one odd duck.
(No, no, no, it’s really not a duck at all. . .)
Oh, and the pronunciation is foo-sa, emphasis on the first syllable. Not even its name is what it appears to be.
The fossa is a mammal. It originates form Madagascar, and its closest relative is the mongoose.
It looks like a cat and flies through trees like a squirrel. They have retractable claws and can climb down a tree trunk head first. When on the ground, the fossa runs flat-footed like a bear.
As Madagascar’s largest mammalian carnivore, they are at the top of the island’s food chain. They hunt small to medium sized animals, both in trees and on the ground — fish, birds and even wild-pigs are on their menu!
The fossa is a cathemeral animal — meaning that they are active at night and day, napping, hunting and feeding as it is safe and/or possible to do so.
They are generally solitary creatures, only searching out company during mating periods. The fossa has been known to live to be 60 years old in the wild — generally about 20 years is a captive lifespan. Born toothless and sightless, they are are completely dependent on their mothers for the first 4 months, and stay with them until they are about a year old.
He can see right into your soul...
Fossa males are anywhere between 29–31 inches long, not counting their tail which is an additional 27–35 inches long; they weigh 13–22 pounds. The females are reach 25–27 inches in the body, while their tails are about the same as the male; they weigh 11–15 pounds.
The actual number of fossas are unknown, but they are classified as endangered. Their export from Madagascar is limited to help protect the native population. In 2000, there were fewer than 2,500 mature fossas counted on the island. Their number one threat is humans who sometimes kill the fossa for attacking farm animals and as we encroach on their habitat.