Tracking fossas at the zoo and in Madagascar

Fossas, nocturnal animals that live in the forest, are very difficult to observe. From 2014 to 2021, the Paris Zoo participated in the Fossa Fund, which financed field research.  

In 2021, more direct support is provided by a researcher from the Max Planck Institute, who worked in the field for 6 months of the year, observing the interaction between fossas (predators) and Verreaux's sifakas (prey).

In order to analyse the fossas' hunting behaviour according to their movements, some were fitted with GPS collars. The Parc zoologique de Paris has helped to improve this technological monitoring tool with its pair of fossas, equipped for a few days in 2022 with GPS collars fitted with accelerometers. Students followed their movements to match the data collected by the collar with the data filmed in real time. The project is ongoing, with the Parc zoologigue de Paris being one of the only European zoos to have had a fossa birth in 2023.

It monitors the growth of the 4 babies of the female Zanahary (which arrived in 2016). This data, collected in captivity, provides invaluable information for determining the age of the animals in the field.