Spatial dynamics and activity patterns of the fosa Cryptoprocta ferox in Ankarafantsika National Park, Madagascar: carnivores navigating a human-influenced landscape

Abstract

The Vulnerable fosa Cryptoprocta ferox is the largest native carnivore in Madagascar, fulfilling a unique ecological niche in the island's remaining forests. Negative interactions with humans threaten the long-term viability of most remaining fosa populations across Madagascar. Threats to the fosa include habitat loss and persecution by humans resulting from perceived predation on domestic animals. We used GPS collars to record space use and activity patterns of five fosas in Ankarafantsika National Park, Madagascar, during the dry seasons of 2016 and 2017. The results, with up to 2,110 recorded locations per individual, indicated fosas’ home ranges and movements were not limited to the forest, and all collared individuals used networks of habitat patches and corridors to navigate deforested areas. The fosas studied in Ankarafantsika National Park had significantly larger home ranges than those reported in previous studies in other protected areas. They were rarely found within village boundaries and appeared to avoid areas of human habitation, suggesting that during the study period livestock was not a significant component of the fosas’ diet in this Park. Our results suggest that fosas have some flexibility that enables them to adapt to living near deforested and human-dominated areas by altering their space-use patterns, but they are compensating by increasing their home range size.

Ecological Consequences of a Millennium of Introduced Dogs on Madagascar

“…exploit the expanding anthropogenic niche, as documented in other taxa such as vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) on mainland Africa (e.g., Loudon et al, 2014). Cryptoprocta ferox is known to navigate deforested areas (Wyza et al, 2020), and there are numerous recent accounts of C. ferox raiding poultry and controlling introduced rat populations (Merson et al, 2019b).…”

Response of diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema) to fosa (Cryptoprocta ferox) predation in the Betampona Strict Nature Reserve, Madagascar

“…The fosa population in the reserve is the subject of an ongoing study of their health in which individuals are monitored and some are collared (Rasambainarivo et al., 2018 ). Betampona's isolation prevents natural migration for lemurs and, most likely, carnivorans like fosas, which select forested habitat and avoid ranging in agricultural land (Wyza et al., 2020 ). Given the correlation between high extinction risk and body mass (Turvey & Fritz, 2011 ) and the time‐lagged effects of habitat fragmentation to which carnivorans and primates in Madagascar are particularly vulnerable (Broekman et al., 2022 ), diademed sifaka and fosa are species at high risk of local extinction in the isolated forest of Betampona.…”

Impact of the Anthropocene on the status of the world's small carnivores: A global macroecological perspective

“…Conversely and importantly however, we found that the concurrent interactive effects of anthropogenic and landscape variables on the world's small carnivores are complex. This is because in part at least, responses to anthropogenic impacts among biogeographical realms, carnivoran families and individual species varied due to differential co‐adaptations within and among shared landscapes (Belden et al, 2007; Wyza et al, 2020). Using the most comprehensive geographical distribution data on SCS yet assembled, we show that global small carnivore diversity has been affected by several major anthropogenic drivers.…”

“…Several studies have demonstrated wide variation in the capacity of small carnivore species (SCS) to share habitats and resources with humans (Azhar et al, 2014; Wyza et al, 2020). Whereas some SCS might have little tolerance for anthropogenic pressures and therefore cannot persist or do not flourish in modified habitats (Meijaard & Sheil, 2007), others are quite common in agricultural or other anthropogenic landscapes (Jennings et al, 2015).…”