Fossas and Their Toys
Posted at 8:48 am October 9, 2008 by Barbara LettonIf you’ve ever walked through Cat Canyon at the San Diego Zoo, you’ve probably seen the fossas that live there, and maybe even noticed the new fossa kits that recently moved there. But did you know that we have a lot more fossas than can be seen on exhibit?
Aside from our hand-raised fossa at the Children’s Zoo (see blog, Fossa Fun), we currently have seven adult fossas living behind the scenes in our mammal holding area. These beautiful and energetic animals are our breeding pairs and grown offspring preparing to go to other zoos, and having them here provides a unique perspective on their individual personalities.
Today, their main enrichment was a toy swap, which means I take one toy out of each fossa’s enclosure and give it to another fossa. They all love it, but their reactions are very different. The mature female at the far end, Fatima, likes to sniff the toy and knock it off the spot where I put it. Then she’ll leave it alone to do other things, going back to sniff it and move it around all day. The two young fossas waiting to be shipped out (called number 20 and number 15) are really rowdy. They love to jump on the ball or plastic spool and kick it enthusiastically around until they’re in need of a nap and the toy has been properly beaten into submission. And on the other end, the old lady named Fandrina will give the toy a sniff and then go take a nap in the sun.
For each of them, it’s entertainment suited to their personalities and one of my favorite moments in the day.
Barbara Letton is a keeper at the San Diego Zoo.
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October 9th, 2008 at 11:35 am
I am not very knowledgable about this species. in fact I know nothing about them. can you give out some info. about them and where they are from. they sure are cute! not very big either. life span? litter size?
diet? thanks!
Moderator’s note: There is a link to our Animal Bytes fact sheet on fossas in the blog’s first paragraph. Here it is again: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-fossa.html
October 9th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
thanks moderator! I did go back and read animal bytes on this mammal .I need to remember to check further before asking alot of questions that have already been answered! I am learning though. bear with me as I have only had this computer for a short time and am self taught. I am loving this trip through the zoo and learning alot that I didn’t know before all these links and animal bytes!!! I am like a big kid with a new toy even though I am old enough to be retired, which I am!!!!!
Moderator’s note: No problem. We’re glad you’ve been exploring the San Diego Zoo’s Web site and all it has to offer, Nancy.
October 14th, 2008 at 10:58 am
I absolutely adore the Fossas. I had never heard of them until my daughter and I visited the Children’s Zoo back in July and spent ages just watching the kits through the window. We visited them every day for a week and watched the staff trying to keep them from wandering off while they were cleaning the housing area. They are so gorgeous. When I got back home I just had to find out more about them on the internet. The Children’s Zoo has to be the best – with Tripod and her gang just over the way from the Fossas, and the huge butterflies and the parrots, the Mouse House and all the other animals.
Would I be right to assume that the lovely little hand raised Fossas have been moved to an enclosure now?
Moderator’s note: The female and one of the males now live in an exhibit on the Zoo’s Elephant Mesa. The other male was sent to the Wild Animal Park, where he is in training to become an animal ambassador.
March 1st, 2009 at 11:09 am
We’ve just recently renewed our membership and discovered the wonderful Fossas! After our first visit we went onto the internet & learned as much as we could about Fossas in general. I’d love to know more about the ones living at the zoo.
This post is over a year old so I was hoping you could give me some updated info. There were 3 Fossas in the exibit in Cat Canyon, two of them loooked to be younger and were full of energy and personality. What can you tell me about them? Is there still an ambassador Fossa in the Children’s Zoo? How many are currently living at the SD Zoo? Do they all have names? Are the ones on exhibit always the same ones or do they get switched out regularly? Are there any currently at the Wild Animal Park?
Thanks for having such a beautiful and fun animal for us to get to know!
Moderator’s note: We’ll try to find out for you. We do know that the fossa in the Children’s Zoo is still one of our animal ambassadors and is doing great!
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Vivian:
That’s great that you love the fossas so much! They are pretty exciting
To answer your questions: the three fossas on exhibit in Cat Canyon are a mom (who is named Nona) and her latest litter. They were born off exhibit, back where most of the other fossas live. When the kits were old enough, we pulled the lone female that had been in that exhibit and put our new little family there so everyone could enjoy the fun of young fossas. Pretty soon, those little boys will be old enough to leave mom and move back up to the off-exhibit holding area. Mom will be fine with that, as fossas are very solitary by nature and only get together to breed or when they’re with offspring still being raised.
There is still a fossa ambassador, Isa, in the Children’s Zoo, and he’s growing up fast. As I don’t work with him directly, I can’t tell you too much about him other than that. I believe our total fossa count is 9: 4 females and 5 males. Only some of them have names, but we identify them in our computer system with two numbers, a long one that all zoos will recognize, called an accession number, and a shorter number which is a house number, and specific only to the San Diego Zoo.
As I mentioned briefly earlier, we do rotate the fossas on exhibit, putting young families out to enjoy the people or pulling old animals that aren’t so agile up to holding where they can sleep in the sun all day. The Wild Animal Park has a young fossa in training for “ambassadorship” as well. His name is Jamba.
Those were some great questions. I’m so glad you’re interested in these wonderful animals! If you have any other questions, feel free to ask
March 6th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Thanks for the info Barbara!
We’ll be back for another visit this weekend. I hope the “boys” don’t grow up too fast. I’m looking forward to seeing them all through the summer.
Vivian
March 9th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
The boys were having a great time on Sunday! We stopped by just before closing and I got some great movie footage of them playing. A little bird was foolish enough to fly inside and one of the boys made a run at it. The bird got away, but wow are those Fossas fast! One second he was all the way at the top playing with the rope and the next he was on the ground where the bird used to be.
Nona was sitting in the sun watching all the fun. What a beauty!
Vivian & Jeff
September 11th, 2009 at 7:46 am
Hello.
My daughter is doing a presentation on fossas for her science class. Can you tell me if there is a way that we could use the sound bytes that you have posted on your website? I was hoping to put them into a power point presentation for her, but I can’t seem to figure out how to download each sound byte.
Also, she had specific questions about the following topics:
Are they born in a particular season?
What do they use for shelter?
Can you explain their social behavior?
What is their height?
Thank you for your time.
Moderator’s note: We’ve forwarded your questions to our Education Department.