Florida Panther

The Florida panther is a North American cougar P. c. couguar population. In South Florida, it lives in pinelands, hardwood hammocks, and mixed swamp forests. Males can weigh up to 160 lb (73 kg) and 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 including Golden Gate Estates, Hendry County, Florida, Lee County, Florida, Miami-Dade County, Florida, and Monroe County, Florida. This population, the only unequivocal cougar representative in the eastern United States, currently occupies 5% of its historic range. In the 1970s, an estimated 20 Florida panthers remained in the wild, but their numbers had increased to an estimated 230 by 2017. In 1982, the Florida panther was chosen as the Florida state animal. It was formerly classified as a distinct puma subspecies (Puma concolor coryi). 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 midsized for the species, being smaller than cougars from Northern and Southern climes, but larger than cougars from the neotropics.Adult female Florida panthers weigh 29–45.5 kg (64–100 lb), whereas the larger males weigh 45.5–72 kg (100–159 lb). Total length is from 1.8 to 2.2 m (5.9 to 7.2 ft) and shoulder height is 60–70 cm (24–28 in). 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. The Florida panther has long been considered a unique subspecies of cougar, under the trinomial Puma concolor coryi (Felis concolor coryi in older listings), one of 32 subspecies once recognized. The Florida panther has been protected from legal hunting since 1958, and in 1967, it was listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; it was added to the state's endangered species list in 1973. A genetic study of cougar mitochondrial DNA has reported that many of the supposed subspecies are too similar to be recognized as distinct, suggesting a reclassification of the Florida panther and numerous other subspecies into a single North American cougar (Puma concolor couguar). Following the research, the canonical Mammal Species of the World (3rd edition) ceased to recognize the Florida panther as a unique subspecies, collapsing it and others into the North American cougar. Despite these findings, it is still listed as subspecies Puma concolor coryi in research works, including those directly concerned with its conservation. Responding to the research that suggested removing its subspecies status, the Florida Panther Recovery Team noted in 2007, 'the degree to which the scientific community has accepted the results of Culver et al. and the proposed change in taxonomy is not resolved at this time.'