Fossa: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the fossa lives – recorded in 1 country, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Cryptoprocta ferox
Group	Mongooses, civets & genets
Status	Vulnerable (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	1 country
Continents	Africa
Mass	100 g (birth weight); 9.5 kg (adult weight)
Class	Mammal
Order	Carnivora
Family	Eupleridae

Where does the fossa live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the fossa in 1 country or territory across Africa. Wikidata lists it as endemic to Madagascar.

Madagascar

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

How big is a fossa?

Wikidata records the following for the fossa: mass 100 g (birth weight); 9.5 kg (adult weight).

Is the fossa endangered?

The fossa’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Vulnerable” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the fossa?

The fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox) is a mammal in the order Carnivora and the family Eupleridae, genus Cryptoprocta. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the fossa

The fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox; FOSS-ə or FOO-sə; Malagasy: [ˈfusə̥]) is a slender, long-tailed, cat-like mammal that is endemic to Madagascar. It is a member of the carnivoran family Eupleridae.

The fossa is the largest mammalian carnivore on Madagascar and has been compared to a small cougar, as it has convergently evolved many cat-like features. Adults have a head-body length of 70–80 cm (28–31 in) and weigh between 5.5 and 8.6 kg (12 and 19 lb), with the males larger than the females. It has semi-retractable claws (meaning it can extend but not retract its claws fully) and flexible ankles that allow it to climb up and down trees head-first, and also support jumping from tree to tree. Two larger extinct relatives of the species are known, Cryptoprocta spelea and Cryptoprocta bevatabe, with the former probably becoming extinct before 1400.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Fossa (animal) (revision 1380353311), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q183330 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).