“Arrr!” (Image: Digital Storm/Shutterstock)
Wow! Fluffy (and artist Digital Storm), that is gorgeous!
Fluffy, you win the blog’s Halloween costume contest hands paws down.
Only, cats aren’t native to Madagascar, where Malagasy is spoken. In fact, this isolated island off Africa’s southeastern coast didn’t have any predators that were mammals for the longest time after non-avian dinosaurs and other forms of life disappeared in the K/T extinction 66 million years ago.
Some critters distantly related to mongooses eventually drifted in from the African mainland roughly 45 million years later and have since spent their time on Madagascar evolving into an interesting and eclectic band of carnivores.
People sometimes call them “mongooses” or “civets” — true mongooses and civets are in different feliform families that we’ll meet in separate posts — but wildlife experts know them as Eupleridae instead of the catchy nicknames that I just dreamed up for the family’s two subgroups:
- Mean!
Fossas are one of the critters in the subfamily Euplerinae.
(Image: Andrewives via Wikimedia, public domain) - Fabulous (sorry, Fluffy!)!
This ring-tailed vontsira is one of the Galidiinae subfamily members. (Image: Charles J. Sharp via Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)
At least now we have at least one feliform that resembles a cat!
In case the END short code doesn’t work, Malagasy carnivores are covered at the start through 2:36.
More information:
This is just on some of the better known Malagasy carnivores:
- Fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox): Wikipedia page.
IUCN Red List status: Vulnerable.
- Malagasy civet (Fossa fossana): I know — this euplerid is not a true civet, as far as I know, and it’s not the animal everyone knows as a fossa.
It is, however, adorable (and an ecotourism favorite):
IUCN Red List status: Vulnerable. See how they call it “fanaloka”? Malagasy carnivores would be very confusing without those scientific names!
- Ring-tailed vontsira (Galidia elegans): Wikipedia page.
There definitely is a mongoose vibe to some of these animals. IUCN Red List status: Least Concern.
A little lagniappe:
Squee alert! Also, without looking up above, can you name this species that they call a fanaloka?
Featured image: Malagasy carnivores, via Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Flight To Wonder 