#eupleridae

Giant-striped Vontsira aka Grenedier's Mongoose (Galidictis grandidieri), family Eupleridae, Parc National de Tsimanampetsotsa, Madagascar

ENDANGERED.

Broad-striped Malagasy Mongoose Galidictis fasciata

It is endemic to eastern Madagascar. The broad-striped Malagasy mongoose is nocturnal. It forages alone or in pairs, and uses its keen sense of smell and hearing to detect prey. The mongoose is carnivorous and its diet mainly consists of insects, small reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals, which it digs out from soil and leaf litter. Known as vontsira in the Malagasy language.

Madagascar is full of unique animals, from the smallest insects all the way to the top of the food chain! Fossas occupy their own special family, Eupleridae, and feature plenty of special physical traits. One such trait is their sexual growth: from ages 1-2, female fossa undergo a process called transient masculinization, wherein they develop an enlarged clitoris resembling a penis and secrete an orange substance that colors their underside in the same pattern as the male's scrotum sac. These developments fade with age, and don't impede reproduction in any way.

A fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox) crosses the street in Kirindy Reserve, Madagascar

We haven't done the fossa yet, but it's been a while since we did the jaguarundi so I'll have it come next!