Hansel and Lemurbot
Hansel, our resident fossa (pronounced foo-sa), has to be one of the neatest animals you’ll encounter at the zoo. He is quite beautiful and has some amazing adaptations, which is why I refer to him as Handsome.
As a fossa, his habitat in the wild would be the island of Madagascar. (You may also recall the dreaded fossa from the movie of the same name.) Fossa tend to live in dry forests on the island, and they are the largest mammalian (animal with fur) carnivore to inhabit Madagascar.
What do they eat, you ask? Researchers estimate that up to 50% of their diet consists of lemurs. Lemurs!! And in order to catch those lemurs, the fossa have to be extremely skilled at climing, jumping, running, and catching their prey. Their sharp claws allow them to grasp onto tree branches and hang upside down, or walk down a tree trunk head first. They also have sharp teeth that are perfect for tearing and cutting meat.
At the zoo, we give our animals enrichment to keep them mentally and physically stimulated. Sometimes it’s a real treat and we create a lifelike animal for them to tear apart. Awhile back Hansel was presented with an oversized lemur dubbed Lemurbot by staff. Check out the picture of Hansel with his larger-than-life lemur decorated with meat chunks.
For more information on lemurs, take a look at the Duke University Lemur Center, or to get interesting fossa facts, visit the San Diego Zoo’s Animal Bytes.
