Fossa:




Not many people have heard of the Madagascar native, a mammal called the fossa. Although it is related to the mongoose, it looks nothing like it. At first scientists thought it was a type of cat because of its retractible claws and cat-like teeth. They live in the forest and jumps from tree to tree very quickly using its long prehensile tail. In fact, they move so quickly that it is hard to observe them in the wild. They are carnivorous,but have a large range of other animals they eat, pretty much anything they can kill, even wild pigs. Their number one choice of prey is the lemur. Their coat is reddish brown and have a face that looks like a small dog. They can grow to be up to 6 feet long from the tip of their nose to the very end of their tail. Adults usually weigh about 26 pounds and reach maturity at about 3 years old. They are awake during both the night and the day and like to live alone. Since they are only found in Madagascar they are endangered like most of the animals found there. Fossas have no living predators but humans living in the area see them as a threat because they often kill chickens and other small farm animals and hunt them. They can make many different sounds including a growl, a chirp, and a purr. You can hear these sounds here.





http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/fossa/