The Florida panther is a North American cougar (P. c. couguar) population in South Florida. It lives in pinelands, tropical hardwood hammocks and mixed freshwater swamp forests. Its range includes the Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades National Park, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, Picayune Strand State Forest, as well as rural communities in the counties of Collier, Hendry, Lee, Miami-Dade, and Monroe County. It is the only confirmed cougar population in the Eastern United States, and currently occupies 5% of its historic range. As of 2024, about 200 individuals are left in the wild.[1]
Florida panthers are spotted at birth, and typically have blue eyes. As the panther grows, the spots fade and the coat becomes completely tan, while the eyes typically take on a yellow hue. The panther's underbelly is a creamy white, and it has black tips on the tail and ears. Florida panthers lack the ability to roar, and instead make distinct sounds that include whistles, chirps, growls, hisses, and purrs. Florida panthers are average-sized for the species, being smaller than cougars from colder climates, but larger than cougars from the Neotropics.Adult female Florida panthers weigh 29-, whereas the larger males weigh 45.5kg-72kgkg (100.3lb-159lbkg). Total length is from 1.8to and shoulder height is 60-.[2] [3] Male panthers, on average, are 9.4% longer and 33.2% heavier than females because males grow at a faster rate than females and for a longer time.[4]
It was described as a distinct cougar subspecies (Puma concolor coryi) in the late 19th century. The Florida panther had for a long time been considered a unique cougar subspecies, with the scientific name Felis concolor coryi proposed by Outram Bangs in 1899.A genetic study of cougar mitochondrial DNA showed that many of the purported cougar subspecies described in the 19th century are too similar to be recognized as distinct.[5] It was reclassified and subsumed to the North American cougar (P. c. couguar) in 2005.Despite these findings, it was still referred to as a distinct subspecies P. c. coryi in 2006.[6]
In 2017, the Cat Classification Taskforce of the Cat Specialist Group revised the taxonomy of Felidae, and now recognises all cougar populations in North America as P. c. couguar.[7]
The Florida panther lives in pinelands, tropical hardwood hammocks and mixed freshwater swamp forests. Its range includes the Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades National Park, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, Picayune Strand State Forest, as well as rural communities in the counties of Collier, Hendry, Lee, Miami-Dade, and Monroe County. It is the only confirmed cougar population in the Eastern United States, and currently occupies 5% of its historic range.[8] In the 1970s, an estimated 20 Florida panthers remained in the wild,[9] but their numbers had increased to an estimated 230 by 2017.[10]
The Florida panther is a large carnivore whose diet consists both of small animals, such as raccoons, armadillos, nutrias, hares, mice, and waterfowl, and larger prey such as storks, white-tailed deer, feral pigs, and small American alligators. The Florida panther is an opportunistic hunter, and has been known to prey on livestock and domesticated animals, including cattle, goats, horses, pigs, sheep, chickens, dogs, and cats.[11] When hunting, panthers shift their hunting environment based on where the prey base is. Female panthers frequently shift both their home range and movement behavior due to their reproductive rates.[12] [13] [14]
According to a 2022 study from the University of Georgia, Florida panthers are now the main cause of death for white-tailed deer in Southwest Florida.[15] Of 241 deer captured and fitted with GPS collars during the study, 96 were killed by Florida panthers. This shows improved health (and therefore ability to hunt) in the endangered panther population.[16]
Panther kittens are born in dens created by their mothers, often in dense scrub. The dens are chosen based on a variety of factors, including prey availability, and have been observed in a range of habitats. Kittens will spend the first 6–8 weeks of life in those dens, dependent on their mother.[17] In the first 2–3 weeks, the mother spends most of her time nursing the kittens; after this period, she spends more time away from the den, to wean the kittens and to hunt prey to bring to the den. Once they are old enough to leave the den, they hunt in the company of their mother. Male panthers are not encountered frequently during this time, as female and male panthers generally avoid each other outside of breeding. Kittens are usually 2 months old when they begin hunting with their mothers, and 2 years old when they begin to hunt and live on their own.[18]
Humans threaten the Florida panther through poaching and wildlife control measures. Besides human mortality, the biggest threat to the Florida panther is habitat fragmentation. It was historically persecuted, and the population reduced to a small area in southern Florida. The population became inbred with individuals having kinked tails, and heart and sperm problems.[19]
The two highest causes of mortality for individual Florida panthers are automobile collisions and territorial aggression between Florida panthers.[20] When these incidents injure the panthers, federal and Florida wildlife officials take them to White Oak Conservation in Yulee, Florida, for recovery and rehabilitation until they are well enough to be reintroduced.[21] Additionally, White Oak raises orphaned kittens and has done so for 12 individuals. Most recently, an orphaned brother and sister were brought to the center at 5 months old in 2011 after their mother was found dead in Collier County, Florida.[22] After being raised, the male and female were released in early 2013 to the Rotenberger Wildlife Management Area and Collier County, respectively.[23]
Primary threats to the population as a whole include habitat loss, habitat degradation, and habitat fragmentation. Southern Florida is a fast-developing area, and many developments such as Ave Maria near Naples, have become extremely controversial for their location in prime panther habitat, and for the roads surrounding them that kill panthers at an ever increasing rate.[24] [25] [26]
Fragmentation by major roads has severely segmented the sexes of the Florida panther, as well. In a study done between 1981 and 2004, most panthers involved in car collisions were found to be male. However, females are much more reluctant to cross roads. Therefore, roads separate habitat, and adult panthers.[27]
Development, as well as the Caloosahatchee River, are major barriers to natural population expansion.[28] While young males wander over extremely large areas in search of an available territory, females occupy home ranges close to their mothers. For this reason, panthers are poor colonizers and expand their range slowly, despite occurrences of males far away from the core population.
The National Park Service has identified mercury poisoning as a potential threat to panthers in South Florida after a female panther from the park died.[29]
Antigen analysis on select Florida panther populations has shown evidence of feline immunodeficiency virus and puma lentivirus among certain individuals. The presence of these viruses is likely related to mating behaviors and territory sympatry. Although, since Florida panthers have lower levels of the antibodies produced in response to FIV, consistently positive results for the presence of infection is difficult to find.[30]
In the 2002–2003 capture season, feline leukemia virus was first observed in two panthers. Further analysis determined an increase in FeLV-positive panthers from January 1990 to April 2007. The virus is lethal, and its presence has resulted in efforts to inoculate the population. While no new cases have been reported since July 2004, the virus does have potential for reintroduction.[31]
In August 2019, Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission identified, through the use of game cameras, eight endangered panthers affected by an apparent neurological disorder, but were unable to identify any potential infectious diseases that can affect felines and other species.[32] [33]
Exposure to a variety of chemical compounds in the environment has caused reproductive impairment to Florida panthers. Tests show that the differences between males and females in estradiol levels are insignificant, which suggests that males have been feminized due to chemical exposure. Feminized males are much less likely to reproduce, which represents a significant threat to a subspecies that already has a low population count and a high level of inbreeding. Chemical compounds that have created abnormalities in Florida panther reproduction include herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides such as benomyl, carbendazim, chlordecone, methoxychlor, methylmercury, fenarimol, and TCDD.[34]
The Florida panther has low genetic diversity due to a variety of environmental and genetic factors. Factors that include habitat destruction contributed to the formation of an isolated population of puma in the Florida panther. Isolation was followed by a gradual decline in the population size that increased the likelihood of inbreeding depression.[35] The lower genetic diversity and higher rates of inbreeding led to the increased expression of deleterious traits in the populations, resulting in lower overall fitness of the Florida panther population. This also lowers the adaptive capacity of the population and increases the likelihood of genetic defects[36] such as cryptorchidism and other complications to the heart and immune system. Specifically concerning the Florida panther, one of the morphological consequences of inbreeding was a high frequency of cowlicks and kinked tails. The frequency of exhibiting a cowlick in a Florida panther population was 94% compared to other pumas at 9%, while the frequency of a kinked tail was 88% as opposed to 27% for other puma subspecies. To increase genetic diversity of the Florida panther, eight Texas pumas were introduced to the Florida population to hopefully promote the survival of the native population. This genetic rescue aided in reducing the inbreeding coefficient in the Florida panther population, introducing more genetic variation. The results indicated that the survival rates of hybrid kittens were three times higher than those of purebred pumas. Due to the successes of this restoration effort, the genetic depletion of the Florida panther population is now not as much of a problem as it used to be, but is being monitored since the population is still in a fragile state.[37]
Florida panthers live in home ranges between 190km2500km2. Within these ranges are many roads and human constructions, which are regularly traveled on by Florida panthers and can result in their death by vehicular collision. Efforts to reduce collisions with the Florida panther include nighttime speed reduction zones, special roadsides, headlight reflectors, and rumble strips. Another method of reducing collisions is the creation of wildlife corridors. Because wildlife corridors emulate the natural environment, animals are more likely to cross through a corridor rather than a road because a corridor provides more cover for prey and predators, and is safer to cross than a road.[38]
The number of Florida panthers killed by vehicular collisions has increased in recent years,[39] and traffic collisions were responsible for the majority of recorded panther deaths each year between 2014 and 2021.[40]
It was formerly considered endangered[41] or critically endangered[42] by the IUCN, but it has not been listed since 2008. It was listed as Felis concolor coryi in 1967 under the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966, and continues to be protected as an endangered animal under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
Recovery efforts are currently underway in Florida to conserve the state's remaining population of native panthers. This is a difficult task, as the panther requires contiguous areas of habitat – each breeding unit, consisting of one male and two to five females, requires about 200sqmi of habitat.[43] This animal is considered to be a conservational flagship because it is a major contributor to the keystone ecological and evolutionary processes in their environment.[14] A population of 240 panthers would require 8000- of habitat and sufficient genetic diversity to avoid inbreeding as a result of small population size. However, a study in 2006 estimated that about 3800sqmi were free for the panthers.[44] The introduction of eight female cougars from a closely related Texas population has apparently been successful in mitigating inbreeding problems.[45] [46] One objective to panther recovery is establishing two additional populations within historic range, a goal that has been politically difficult.[47]
Florida panthers, usually wandering males, have occurred as vagrants outside of Florida. In 2008, a Georgia man was sentenced to 2 years probation, fined, and handed a lifetime hunting ban for killing a Florida panther that had walked 600 miles north to Troup County, Georgia.[48] [49] In 2014, a male panther was shot and killed in the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia.[50]
The conservation of Florida panther habitats is especially important because they rely on the protection of the forest, specifically hardwood hammock, cypress swamp, pineland, and hardwood swamp, for their survival.[14] Conservation strategies for Florida panthers tend to focus on their preferred morning habitats. However, GPS tracking has determined that habitat selection for panthers varies by time of day for all observed individuals, regardless of size or gender. They move from wetlands during the daytime to prairie grasslands at night. The implications of these findings suggest that conservation efforts must be focused on the full range of habitats used by Florida panther populations.[51] Female panthers with cubs build dens for their litters in an equally wide variety of habitats, favoring dense scrub, but also using grassland and marshland.
In 2003, a controversy began involving the leading Florida panther expert David Maehr. He was covertly paid by land developers to produce faulty science papers that were used to permit construction projects that destroyed Florida panther habitat.[52]
In light of accusations against Maehr's work, recovery agencies appointed a panel of four experts, the Florida Panther Scientific Review Team (SRT), to evaluate the soundness of the body of work used to guide panther recovery. The SRT identified serious problems with Maehr's literature, including poor citations and misrepresentation of data to support unsound conclusions.[53] [54] [55] A Data Quality Act (DQA) complaint brought by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Andrew Eller, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), was successful in demonstrating that agencies continued to use incorrect information after it had been clearly identified as such.[56] As a result of the DQA ruling, USFWS admitted errors in the science the agency was using and subsequently reinstated Eller, who had been fired by USFWS after filing the DQA complaint. In two white papers, environmental groups contended that habitat development was permitted that should not have been, and documented the link between incorrect data and financial conflicts of interest.[57] [58]
David Maehr was covertly paid by developers, and his faulty science research gave developers the necessary permitting to clear forests needed by the panthers to retain a viable breeding population.[59] In January 2006, USFWS released a new draft Florida Panther Recovery Plan for public review.[60] The discredited Maehr left Florida and the field of panthers to study black bears in Kentucky; he died in a plane accident in 2008, while doing bear research.[59]
If encountered, the advice for people is not to run since this may stimulate the panther's instinct to chase. Instead, it is best to stand and face the animal and make eye contact. Most Florida panthers will avoid a confrontation. In the event of being attacked, an individual should fight back, without turning their back. Further, there has never been a reported panther attack in Florida. However, in western states, people have been attacked and fought back successfully with rocks, sticks, or even their bare hands.[61]
In 1982, the Florida panther was chosen as the Florida state animal.[62] The animal is the namesake of South Florida's hockey team, and the team has donated to the preservation of panther habitats.
In 2023 the Florida panther was featured on a United States Postal Service forever stamp as part of the Endangered Species set, based on a photograph from Joel Sartore's Photo Ark. The stamp was dedicated at a ceremony at the National Grasslands Visitor Center in Wall, South Dakota.[63]