preview

Florida Panther Characteristics

Decent Essays

To get an idea of the shape and characteristics of a mature Florida panther, picture a large cat that has no spots and consist of mainly one color. Florida panthers all consist of a solid tan body with a dark brown streak down their spine. The tip of the tail, behind the ears, and side of nose are all black, giving the panther some key characteristics to remember it by. Kittens of this species start of being grey with an arrangement of brown or black spots. On the tip of the tail unlike the mature panthers, they have five rings that fade and become invisible by the six months of age. Male panthers usually have a weight range from 102-160, while females range from 50-115 lbs. (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 2018). The difference of length from …show more content…

The Florida Panther used to thrive throughout most of southeastern United States, but today, they are little number of species in southern Florida. The habitat of Florida panthers consists of pinelands, hardwood hammocks, and swamp terrain. Living in these types of environments, you can tell that their body types are made to hunt live prey. Their preferences for sources of food are: wild hogs, deer, rabbits, and when limited resources they will eat raccoons and crocodiles. In the mind of a panther, their strategy for hunting strategy is single out, stalk, ambush, while rarely chasing their prey for long periods of time. Florida Panthers are mostly solitary animals, not relying on a pack to help them hunt or thrive. They use their home range to live, hunt, and raise their young. Males cover an area of 200 square miles of land, while females range much lesser than the males at 70-80 square miles. While covering such a vast majority of land, Florida panthers rarely fight over territory (BCR,2016). The historical range of this species occurred throughout 7 states consisting of southeastern United States. In the world today, the panther is limited to less than five percent of their previous range, only having a single breeding population located in southern

Get Access