Fossa

Fossas prowl every major forest on Madagascar, from eastern rainforests dripping with moss to dry western woodlands dotted with baobab trees. Adults stretch nearly two meters nose to tail, yet weigh only as much as a medium dog. Muscular hind legs, partially retractable claws, and a long balancing tail let them dash across thick branches like tightrope walkers. Flexible ankle joints rotate enough for a fossa to climb down a trunk headfirst, a skill essential for ambushing nimble prey.

These carnivores switch between stalking on the ground and bounding along the canopy, making them semi-arboreal hunters. Lemurs make up the bulk of their diet, but they also take birds, tenrecs, reptiles, and occasionally fruit bats. Fossas are mostly solitary and crepuscular, meaning they are most active at dawn and dusk when lemurs leave sleeping trees. Males and females keep overlapping territories linked by scent marks rubbed onto roots, rocks, and dangling vines.

Breeding season arrives during the austral spring. A receptive female often chooses a sturdy tree branch as a meeting site, calling loudly while males gather below. Each male climbs up in turn to mate, sometimes remaining for hours while others wait. After a gestation of roughly three months, the female retreats to a hidden den lined with leaves where she gives birth to two to four helpless pups. Kittens open their eyes after several weeks, practice climbing inside the den, and begin following their mother on short hunts at around four months of age.

Humans pose the greatest threat to fossas. Logging, charcoal production, and slash-and-burn farming shrink the forest corridors they need, while poultry farmers sometimes kill fossas that raid chicken coops. Because the predator is both elusive and vital for keeping prey populations balanced, conservationists work with villages to reinforce chicken pens, expand protected parks, and study fossa movements with radio collars. Public festivals now celebrate the animal’s role in Madagascar’s food webs, framing the fossa as a symbol for safeguarding remaining forests.