Cryptoprocta spelea

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Giant Fossa
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Eupleridae
Genus: Cryptoprocta
Species: C. spelea
Binomial name
Cryptoprocta spelea


Cryptoprocta spelea, also know as the Giant Fossa, is an extinct species of fossa from Madagascar. According to current sub-fossil evidence it averaged 17 kg (37 lb) and was about 2 metres (6 feet long). Like its smaller relative, it would have been cat-like in behavior and would have been able to hunt the giant, ape-sized lemurs that also went extinct in Madagascar. It is unknown why the Giant Fossa went extinct so recently.


[edit] References

  • Gar P. Burness; Jared Diamond; Timothy Flannery. Dinosaurs, Dragons, and Dwarfs: The Evolution of Maximal Body Size. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 98, No. 25. (Dec. 4, 2001, pp. 14518-14523.)
  • SM Goodman, RM Rasoloarison, JU Ganzhorn. On the specific identification of subfossil Cryptoprocta (Mammalia, Carnivora) from Madagascar. Zoosystema 26: 129–143, 2004
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