Having watched Madagascar again last night (great movie), I did some quick research on the “foosa,” since it was a critter I was not familiar with by that name. Turns out it really is a critter known by that name (actually spelled “fossa”), the largest mammalian carnivore on the island (the largest carnivore is a croc), related to the mongoose, and is very cat-like in appearance and behavior (less dog-like than in the movie).
The Fossa is a carnivore. It is a ferocious hunter that eats small to medium sized animals, from fish to birds, but is particularly adept at hunting lemurs, and is the predominant predator for many species, with only Madagascar’s large snakes having any other significant predatory impact. Malagasy folklore often exaggerates the ferocity of the Fossa, claiming that it will prey upon cattle, or even humans.
(Emphasis mine.)
And now you know.
i live about 45 minutes away from the San Antonio Tx. Zoo . they have 2 Fossa’s there. they are so fun to watch when it is warm because they are active. when its cool they sleep. they are beautiful animals. we make a point of seeing them whenever we go to the zoo. the movie Madagascar did a very poor job of giving people a real idea of what they look like.
Well, for that matter, they didn’t do a very good job of portraying what most of the animals looked like. I’m pretty sure lions and zebras don’t really look like that.
That said — very cool they have fossa’s there. I need to keep an eye out at other zoos I visit.
Guys, of course lion’s look like that! Except the human personality and the biped ability, the lion and zebra are okay. Especially because its ANIMATED!
Yeah, I kind of think that was my point.
They now have fossas at the Denver Zoo. Cool.