Fossa Cryptoprocta ferox International Studbook (ISB) 2014.

73 Seiten mit Fotos, Grafiken und Tabellen. © Zoo Duisburg

Introduction (auszugsweise):

The data reported in this studbook are current through 31 December 2014. On that date the historical population was 144.108.61 (313) animals and the living population was 78.58.0 (136) animals in 57 institutions. This latter number includes:
1.1.0 (2) animals in 1 institution in the Asian region;
3.2.0 (5) animals in 1 institution in the African region;
37.24.0 (61) animals in 27 institutions in the European region; and
37.31.0 (68) animals in 28 institutions in the North American region.

Zoo Duisburg not only manages the global population of the fossa but also the European zoo population that started in 1972 with Zoo Basel, Switzerland, as the very first holder. The first offspring in the zoo world was recorded two years later at Montpellier Zoo, France. The species is difficult to breed, so breeding successes were and still are limited and the population only slowly increased since the 1970s. Over the years several animals have been exchanged between Europe and North America to improve the genetics of the respective population.

The first fossa recorded in North America was at the National Zoo in Washington in 1954. However, the species has been exhibited consistently only since 1985, when a male and a female were imported to San Diego from Zoo Basel. This pair produced the first zoo-born fossa in North America in 1989. Since then, over the last 25 years, the North American fossa population has continued to grow in size more rapidly than the European one, not only due to zoo breeding but also due to animals that occasionally came into the managed population from private institutions. Ueno Zoological Garden in Japan started to keep fossas with a pair in 2010, as the only holding institution in the Asian region so far. Five animals are listed for the capital zoo of Antananarivo on Madagascar, where in 2011 the first captive-born fossa could be recorded for this region.

The global captive population of the fossa has potential to develop further, but also faces certain limitations. The age structure is not well-dispersed throughout the various age classes, with some of the latter being regionally empty, nor is there an even sex ratio. Especially concerning is the few number of younger individuals in the population, most notably among the females. This population should thus focus on producing offspring at regular intervals in order to maintain a more even distribution of reproductive age animals to insure further breeding successes in the future. The population must also aim at recruiting new holders to increase the holding capacity and to be able to accommodate further offspring. The gene diversity can only be increased with additional potential founder animals and by equalizing founder representation (by breeding animals with the lowest mean kinships).

There are currently several fossa conservation and research activities taking place. In 2014, a cooperation between the Fossa Fund (initiated in 1994 by Zoo Duisburg in order to support conservation and research activities within the species’ natural habitat on Madagascar) and the German NGO "Chances for Nature" started.

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