Athena - Florida Panther (Puma concolor coryi)
Near The Gulf Of Mexico
Southwestern Florida
USA
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Image taken at the Naples Zoo. Athena is the animal I talk about at the zoo for three hours on Mondays. She is a two year old Florida panther abandoned by her mother at three weeks of age. Biologists who were tracking her mother found the kitten and gave her to the zoo to take care of, and we were told we could have her at the zoo permanently. She has some amazing eyes, and currently weighs about 80 pounds.
Wikipedia - 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.
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).
The Florida panther has a natural predator, the American alligator. Humans also threaten it through poaching and wildlife control measures. Besides predation, the biggest threat to their survival is human encroachment. Historical persecution reduced this wide-ranging, large carnivore to a small area of south Florida. This created a tiny, isolated population that became inbred (revealed by kinked tails and heart and sperm problems).
The two highest causes of mortality for individual Florida panthers are automobile collisions and territorial aggression between panthers.
To read more about Florida panthers visit - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_panther
Athena - Florida Panther (Puma concolor coryi)
Near The Gulf Of Mexico
Southwestern Florida
USA
Best Viewed In Lightbox-
www.flickr.com/photos/42964440@N08/48298774426/in/photost...
Image taken at the Naples Zoo. Athena is the animal I talk about at the zoo for three hours on Mondays. She is a two year old Florida panther abandoned by her mother at three weeks of age. Biologists who were tracking her mother found the kitten and gave her to the zoo to take care of, and we were told we could have her at the zoo permanently. She has some amazing eyes, and currently weighs about 80 pounds.
Wikipedia - 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.
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).
The Florida panther has a natural predator, the American alligator. Humans also threaten it through poaching and wildlife control measures. Besides predation, the biggest threat to their survival is human encroachment. Historical persecution reduced this wide-ranging, large carnivore to a small area of south Florida. This created a tiny, isolated population that became inbred (revealed by kinked tails and heart and sperm problems).
The two highest causes of mortality for individual Florida panthers are automobile collisions and territorial aggression between panthers.
To read more about Florida panthers visit - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_panther