Sonya in Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted is a bear.
Sonya appears as a circus performer when Alex and his friends join a traveling circus in the 2012 film. She is associated with the circus’s European performances and has a relationship with Vitaly, the Russian tiger whose confidence has been damaged by a past accident.
The character is part of the movie’s circus ensemble, which includes several animals with specialized acts. Her species is visually distinctive, but the fast-moving action and many new characters can make individual circus animals easy to confuse.
Sonya is not the jaguar Gia, who becomes close to Alex, and she is not Vitaly, the tiger. Those characters belong to the same circus storyline, which is why questions about the animals can overlap. The title’s “Europe’s Most Wanted” refers to the group’s pursuit across Europe, not to Sonya specifically.