Madagascar's Largest Carnivore at Risk
Unfortunately for fosa, their first major big-screen appearance came in the form of the fictitious villains in the widely popular 2005 animated film, Madagascar. Most people don’t realise that these strange cat-like creatures are alive and living across Madagascar today, however.
Cryptoprocta ferox, more commonly known as fosa (pronounced foo-sah), is Madagascar’s largest predator (fosa is the Malagasy spelling; in English it is more commonly spelled fossa). It is an elusive, revered and mostly feared carnivore that evokes memorable stories in Malagasy folklore. They’re distributed widely across Madagascar and are currently facing an array of pressures, most notably habitat destruction and retaliatory killing for poultry depredation.
Fosa are members of Madagascar’s only endemic carnivorous group, the Family Eupleridae. Comprising ten species, this group is one of the least studied and most threatened groups of carnivores worldwide. Eupleridae consists of species that vary both morphologically and behaviourally, from the strange earthworm- and insect-eating falanouc to the more commonly seen rainforest carnivore, the ring-tailed vontsira. Of these carnivores, fosa have received the most attention, and with good cause.
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