Florida Panther

## Description

The Florida panther is known under a number of common names including Costa Rican puma, Florida cougar, and Florida puma. It is the only confirmed cougar population in the eastern United States, and currently occupies 5% of its historic range. In 1982, the Florida panther was chosen as the Florida state animal.

## Appearance

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 underbelly is a creamy white, and it has black tips on the tail and ears. Florida panthers are average-sized for the species, being smaller than cougars from colder climates, but larger than cougars from the Neotropics. 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.

## Distribution

Florida panthers live within a range that includes the Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades National Park, the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, Picayune Strand State Forest, rural communities of Collier County, Florida, Hendry County, Florida, Lee County, Florida, Miami-Dade County, Florida, and Monroe County, Florida. Their habitat includes pinelands, tropical hardwood hammocks, and mixed freshwater swamp forests.

## Behavior

Adult Florida panthers prefer to lead a solitary lifestyle trying to avoid each other and only mothers and kittens live in groups. While generally loners, they, however, may share kills with one another and seem to organize themselves into small communities defined by the territories of dominant males. Home range sizes and overall abundance of individuals depend on terrain, vegetation, and prey abundance. Male home ranges include or overlap with those of females but, at least where studied, not with those of other males. Home ranges of females overlap slightly. Males create scrapes composed of leaves and duff with their hind feet, and mark them with urine and sometimes feces. When males encounter each other, they vocalize and may engage in violent conflict if neither backs down. Florida panthers lack the ability to roar, and instead make distinct sounds that include whistles, chirps, growls, hisses, and purrs. Florida panthers are nocturnal ambush predators. They stalk hiding in brush and trees, across ledges, or other covered spots, before delivering a powerful leap onto the back of their prey and a suffocating neck bite. Then they drag a kill to a preferred spot, cover it with brush, and return to feed over a period of days.

## Diet

Florida panthers are hypercarnivores and hunt both 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. They also prey on livestock and domesticated animals, including cattle, goats, horses, pigs, sheep, chickens, dogs, and cats.

## Reproduction

Florida panthers are polygynous and don’t form pairs; males mate with more than females during the breeding season. Their breeding season occurs between October and March. After the gestation period of 90-95 days, the female gives birth to a litter of 1-3 kittens. The young are born in dens created by their mothers, often in dense scrub where they spend the first 6-8 weeks of life, dependent on their mother. 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 her young and hunt prey to bring to the den. Once they are old enough to leave the den, they hunt in the company of their mother. Males 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. Young males become reproductively mature at 3 years of age, while females start to breed between 2 and 3 years old.

## Population

### Population threats

The main threats to Florida panthers include habitat loss, habitat degradation, and habitat fragmentation. They also suffer from poaching, persecution and wildlife control measures. Other serious causes of mortality for these animals are automobile collisions and territorial aggression between individuals.

### Population number

According to IUCN Red List, the total population size of the Florida panther is 100-180 individuals. According to Wikipidea resource, in 2017 the number of Florida panthers was estimated 230 individuals. Presently, the Florida panther is not included in the IUCN Red List and its conservation status has not been evaluated. As a whole the cougar species is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List but its numbers today are decreasing.

### Ecological niche

The Florida panther is considered to be a conservational flagship because it is a major contributor to the keystone ecological and evolutionary processes in its environment. They are top predators within their ecosystems and control populations of their prey.