The Florida Panther is the State animal.
Florida Panther Fun Facts:
* Adult male Panthers defend territories of around 200 sq. miles while female Panthers have territories of around 75 sq. miles.
* Female Panthers generally have a litter of 1 to 3 kittens every other year.
* Mothers stay with their young for about 1.5 to 2 years.
* Males weight around 120 pounds and are 7 ft long from nose to end of tail. (Panther's tails are 2/3 of their body length.)
* Panthers can leap more than 15 feet and can run 35 miles per hour for short distances.
* Panthers like to eat deer and wild pigs.
They were hunted to near extinction in the 1950’s.
They were placed on the endangered species list in 1967.
Today, State wildlife officials say there were 29 documented Florida panther kittens born in 2010, and another 30 to 40 likely were born to unmonitored panthers. That compares to just 11 documented kittens born in 2009.
These numbers seem to point towards a large increase in their population but not all kittens survive the wild. Currently, scientists think there are less than 120 Florida panthers remaining.
The major issue today is the cats are running out of habitat as Florida continues to grow through development.
Only 24 of those big cats have radio collars and are tracked by scientists.
Comments (5)Subscribe to CommentsComment