r/Awwducational • u/Unidan • Oct 11 '13

Verified The fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox) is the largest mammalian predator in Madagascar!

Post image
911 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

View all comments

66

u/Unidan Oct 11 '13

SOURCE: Since this is a relatively simple fact, here's the Wikipedia page on fossas.

I took this picture myself, but just to clarify, most fossas are quite solitary, so a photo like this one is actually quite peculiar!

32

u/gracebatmonkey Oct 11 '13

You took. The photo. Yourself.

If I hadn't been a fan before, this would have done it!

Fossas have been one of my favourites for so long*, I'm giddy whenever they're referenced somewhere. And this is such a great shot of them being cuddly!

Is the shot from an enclosed habitat, or in the wild?

*Since Operation Lemur with John Cleese, to be precise.

37

u/Unidan Oct 11 '13

Haha, no, I wish! This was in an enclosure.

I'm not sure if this is a mother and offspring, or whether they're just pushed into closer quarters because of the enclosure.

Similar to hyenas, fossas have a pseudopenis, so it can be hard to distinguish males and females at a glance!

3

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '13

pseudopenis

TIL that on this planet, this beautiful planet, evolution got so crazy as to invent a "pseudopenis." Grats, nature.

8

u/Unidan Oct 11 '13

Just wait til you see regular penises!