July 3, 2004
"Hungry Fossa??"
by Sean McCarthy

Today was quite a busy and amazing day in camp. In the morning, my group left camp to do trap-checks in the JBA portion of the forest. Before we even reached the research grid we heard someone calling over the radio saying they had a fossa and were on the way back to camp. With very little hesitation, Fred volunteered to continue on the trap-checks and the rest of us bolted back to camp. My group caught a ride with the truck and was in camp in time to prepare for the arrival of the fossa. Tarps were spread out, notebooks and cameras grabbed, and all the supplies we would need for the data collection were organized (to some degree) on the table. The female fossa arrived, only to be followed by two wild cats later in the morning. Someone else is going to describe the data collection, but I wanted to discuss what this busy first day might suggest. Catching a fossa and two wild cats on the first day of trapping has got all of us even more excited about the rest of the field season. While we know every day will not be filled with as much excitement, such a great start must mean that the fossa and other animals are plentiful and the forest is healthy...or does it?

I know this will sound pessimistic, but maybe this busy first day suggests some negative things occurring in the forest. I would think that the animals would be hesitant to enter the strange traps that are set, despite the bait inside. A new object in their familiar habitat, covered with human scent would probably set off some alarms in the mind of a fossa or wild cat. However, these first three animals immediately went for the bait without hesitating for even one day. Could this suggest that these animals were desperate for food, following their hunger into these traps without noticing or worrying about the strange metal cages they were entering?

A large cyclone that came through this past February did great damage to the park, with many large trees damaged or knocked to the ground. Some of these trees must have produced food for the lemurs and other prey of the fossa. If the lemur population was decreased, then the food source for the fossa would be decreased. This could be one explanation why the fossa and wild cats were caught so quickly. Then again, it may just be coincidence that these three animals stumbled across a free meal during the same night and figured they would help themselves. Now that the expedition is in full swing, I'm very excited to see what the rest of the season tells us about the fossa population this year.