Thread by @am_anatiala

NEXT UP:

Fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox; seed 6)

vs.

Greater Grison (Galictis vittata; seed 11) #2020MMM

A Madagascar exclusive (a la Vulpix to Pokemon Red) & listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, the #FierceFossa is an awesome representative of the endemic Eupleridae fam that can get up to 31.5 inches or 2.4 stoats long! #2020MMM #StoatsAsMeasurement

Coming up against the cool af fossa is the (admittedly neat cuz it’s a mustelid) greater grison! If you're lucky, you can find this 1.79 stoats long #GrizzledGremlin in a number of habitats in Central America & South America. #2020MMM #StoatsAsMeasurement

A latin lesson for y'all: Cryptoprocta means 'hidden anus'.

But despite the plain brown fossa named for its anal pouch, it's actually the cookies-and-cream grison that has anal glands that are able to spray 'yellow/greenish' musk, just like a skunk! #2020MMM

But, we all know that sprayable anal musk is BASIC.

If the grison, which does occasionally like to climb trees, tried to climb down one headfirst, they'd lose their grip.

But not the fossa, which has neat reversible ankles! credit: #2020MMM

Tonight's battle takes place in the Masoala-Makira protected area in NE Mad, the feliform fossa's home turf, home to 1K+ of them (drive.google.com/open?id=1q_IrO…).

Apologies to the caniform grison, who has been dropped right in the middle of this muddy, wet, rugged rainforest. #2020MMM

The grison takes the change with mustelid-like curiousity.

The grison zigzags through undergrowth, popping it's head out onto a trail made by local zebu. #2020MMM #TeamDogsish

Yes, the location is different; yes, there are terrestrial leeches.

But the grison is used to rainforests.

Grison rubs their musk against anything and everything. This is their territory now! #2020MMM

Nearby, the fossa smells the intrusion... #2020MMM #TeamCatsish

[video shows fossa sniffing the air]

Intrigued, the fossa jumps into the trees, using their long tail as a balance as they nimbly run along the branches to the source of the smell. #2020MMM

Meanwhile, the grison is zigzagging* along the zebu trail, still marking happily.

Little does the grison know that the fossa is following them from above. #2020MMM

*

https://twitter.com/natgeowild/status/1093645584743845888?s=20

The fossa is a bit confused.

There aren't a lot of creatures in the Malagasy rainforest that smell like the greater grison.

But despite the smell, it does LOOK a bit familiar.

In fact, it looks a little like a... #2020MMM

Indri (Indri indri #DoubleTrouble)!

The indri is a toddler-sized lemur that is also black & white & delicious all over. #2020MMM

Sure, indri don't exactly trot along the ground...but it could be a young one that has fallen while jumping in the trees* and is injured?

*adult indri can leap distances up to 33 ft- almost 30 stoats!

#EasyMeal #StoatsAsMeasurement #2020MMM

(*SOUND OF A FOSSA GOING FASTER THAN SPEED OF SOUND*) #2020MMM

The fossa launches from the branch, slamming into the the grison with enormous force.

*CRUNCH*

A skull bite slays the Grison before it even knew what hit it. sadabe.org/Irwin/articles… #2020MMM

FOSSA CRUSHES GREATER GRISON('S SKULL) #2020MMM