IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Greene, J. | |
| Crossroads for the panther? | |
| 1111 Defenders of Wildlife: 6-11 | |
Once, panthers ranged all across the United States. According to early accounts, the eastern woods teemed with the cats. Their tracks crisscrossed the pastures and fields of colonial farms. The cats were called by many names. Some we still use - cougar, puma, mountain lion, catamount. Others have been lost - mountain screamer, Indian devil, silver lion. In the 19th century the cats were still common in the east. Some 600 were killed between 1820 and 1845 in Center Country, Pennsylvania. At least 100 were reported killed in the Adirondacks during the last third of the century. In Florida, as in other states, panthers were considered a threat to livestock. County courts paid bounties on dead panthers as early as 1832. In 1887 a state law authorized a $5 bounty for bounty scalps. Although Florida panther populations had begun to dwindle in the late 1800s, sport hunting of the animals continued until the cats were given complete protection by the state in 1958. By then it was estimated that no more than 50 remained in Florida. A tenacious remnant of an earlier time, they were the only known panthers surviving east of the Mississippi. Little is known about the biology of the Florida Panther, one of 30 cougar subspecies. It can be distinguished from the others by its longer legs, an adaptation, biologists believe, to Florida's extensive wetlands. It has smaller feet, three inches wide instead of four. Belden says the Florida panther also can be differentiated by white flecks on its head, neck and shoulders, a crook at the end of its tail and a cowlick on its upper-middle back. The animal typically is rusty above and pale below. Males average about 110 pounds, females about 70, Belden says. Like other cougars it is a solitary animal. It feeds primarily on deer but also on wild hogs and armadillos. |
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