I
have just graduated from the University of Notre Dame with
a degree in Biological Sciences. This summer will be my
first real experience with field research. I became interested
in the fossa and Madagascar wildlife during a summer research
internship at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. While I was there,
I performed one of the first studies on fossa in captivity,
observing the male on exhibit. I examined activity levels,
exhibit usage and helped to establish a baseline activity
pattern for fossa in captivity. Since my internship ended,
a female fossa has been introduced and data is still being
collected to see how the male's behavior has changed.
While in Madagascar, I will be participating in the trapping,
tracking and data collection portion of the study, with
a focus on how this data can help improve fossa care in
captivity. For example, I will be interested to compare
fossa activity levels in captivity to those we are tracking
in the wild. A discrepancy between this data may hint at
better ways to manage fossa in zoos. In addition, comparing
wild fossa size and age to those in captivity will help
determine if current standards of care for fossa are satisfactory.
I will be working with the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo for
my portion of the study.
