Florida panther

Florida panther, member of a population of large New World cats belonging to the species Puma concolor, family Felidae, confined to a small, isolated, and inbred group in southern Florida. This population is the only breeding group of pumas in the eastern United States. The Florida panther was traditionally classified as a distinct subspecies of puma (P. concolor coryi) and was reclassified as a population of the P. concolor couguar subspecies in 2017 after a genetic analysis. The Florida panther was one of the first animals listed under the Endangered Species Act when the law first passed in 1973, and it is recognized as the state animal of Florida.

Natural history

Florida panthers live in subtropical environments and frequently pass through wetlands, forests, and grasslands in search of food. They can use human paths and often cross roads and highways. Although the population is now confined exclusively to southern Florida, its geographic range once extended northward as far as Tennessee and South Carolina and westward as far as Arkansas and Louisiana.

The fur of adult animals is dark buff, tawny, or rust-coloured above, brownish orange to light brown or tawny on the sides, and light buff to white on the undersides. Most male Florida panthers are relatively large, weighing 45–72 kg (100–160 pounds); females weigh 30–45 kg (65–100 pounds). From nose to tail, adults measure 1.8–2.1 metres (6–7 feet). Kittens are buff with dark brown or blackish spots and weigh 0.5 kg (1 pound) at birth.

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Prey and conservation status

The preferred prey of Florida panthers is white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus); however, they also hunt smaller animals—such as wild hogs, rabbits, birds, and raccoons (Procyon lotor)—and larger ones, such as the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis). Florida panthers are threatened by various forms of human disturbance, including habitat fragmentation and degradation. Several perish each year in collisions with automobiles or other vehicles. In addition, some ecologists fear that the Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus), an invasive species that competes with the Florida panther for prey, is reducing prey populations and thus contributing to increased panther mortality.

In 1900 the Florida panther population was estimated at about 500 individuals. By 1967 the population had fallen to 12–20 adults because of hunting and the clearing of the animal’s natural habitat for agricultural use. That year the animal was listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as threatened with extinction, and in 1973 it was added to the U.S. endangered species list. Since then, conservation programs, including one that supplemented the population with eight female pumas from Texas in 1995, have resulted in a steady increase in Florida panther numbers. In the 2010s the Florida panther population was estimated at more than 200.