Florida Panther
Tagged: animal, animals, cat
Population stands at fewer than 50 today, but the natural food supply available in Florida would once have supported about 1,300 panthers. Like the ocelot, the panther (or puma) has a very wide distribution throughout North and South America. There are various local subspecies, one of which is the Florida panther. The panther has been extinct in Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, and West Virginia since the 1950s. Another subspecies, the eastern panther, has probably also died out, leaving only the Florida panther in the eastern United States. Almost everything that has happened to its environment in the last 100 years has hit the panther hard. It is a familiar story: As the human population has expanded and increased its activities, so panthers have been eliminated. They are large predators, presenting a threat to both people and their livestock. Farm animals have been attacked, and on average one person a year is killed by panthers in North America.
These few attacks may not seem significant, but they give the animals a bad public image, cause widespread fear, and result in a desire to eliminate them. Consequently, in many states hunters have been employed to kill panthers. However, the main cause of the panther losses in Florida is change to its habitat. The creation of new farmland areas from the dense bush and palmetto (small palm) thickets has deprived the panthers of living space. New highways slice through the remaining habitat, creating areas too small to support a viable population. Young panthers normally disperse between 18 and 50 miles (30 to 80 km) from where they were born, but then the fast-moving traffic on the roads poses a danger. Roads and other barriers prevent animals from mixing and meeting, and there is then more inbreeding and consequently a loss of genetic diversity. The species then faces the threat of breeding failure, including a higher proportion of birth defects and miscarriages.
Much of Florida lies on limestone overlaid by swamps. In recent times 40 percent of the swamplands have been lost as a result of expansion of farmland. Water is pumped from underground to supply towns and irrigate crops. Swamps therefore dry up, and whole areas of forest and scrub become more susceptible to fire. Fire is devastating, not only because it kills wildlife, but also because it removes vital cover from large areas. The deer that form the main prey of the panthers are deprived of their food by the fires and also by the replacement of native vegetation by introduced plants (such as Brazilian pepper) that they do not eat, and the losses of deer affect the panther population. In addition, panthers are at the end of a long food chain and therefore susceptible to the toxic materials that accumulate in their prey. Burning of domestic and industrial refuse in Florida gives out pollutants, which collect at every level of the food chain.
Chances of Survival
Legally protected since 1973, the Florida panther now survives only in and around the Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve. In 1995 eight females of the Texas subspecies were imported to provide fresh genes, and in 1980 a sperm bank was started to enable continued breeding of the animals. Major roads have now been fenced to reduce accidents with traffic, and habitat “corridors” are being created to allow safer movement. Nevertheless, the panther’s future in Florida still looks bleak
Status
Florida panther
Puma concolor coryi
- family: Felidae
- Size: Length head/body: 42-54 in (100-130 cm); tail: 30-36 in (72-80 cm); height at shoulder: 26-31 in (62-75 cm). Weight: 66-125 lb (30-57 kg)
- Form: Large, tawny or dark-brown cat with white flecks around the shoulders; long black-tipped tail, sharply kinked toward the end. Black on sides of face and backs of ears
- Habitat: Swamp forest and dense thickets
- World population: Between 30 and 50
- Distribution: South central Florida
- Diet: Deer; also hares, rodents, armadillos; occasionally domestic animals
- Breeding: One to 6 (usually 3) cubs born at almost any time of year after gestation period of about 3 months; mature at 2-3 years. Life span about 20 years
- Related endangered species: Eastern panther (Puma concolor cougar)
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