American Panther, Puma concolor couguar

 

What is a Panther anyway?
The American panther is more commonly called a Mountain Lion, or more correctly, a Cougar (Puma concolor). The panther, a member of the Felidae family, is native to the Americas. It has the widest range of any wild terrestrial animal in the Western Hemisphere extending from Yukon in Canada to the Andes Mountains in South America. This generalist species is highly adaptable and is found in every major American habitat type. The jaguar, an exclusively South American species is the only cat in the Americas that is larger than the Panther. The panther is more closely related to smaller felines (genus Lynx for example) than to the lions and tigers found in Africa and Asia.

 

What does a panther eat and where does one live?

The panther is a stalk-and-ambush predator and pursues a wide variety of prey including deer, elk, and wild sheep. They will also hunt smaller prey such as large insects and rodents. The panther is territorial and prefers habitats with dense underbrush and rocky areas for stalking and hunting. But the panther can be found living in open habitat. Despite its status as a top-level predator and its large size, the panther is not always the dominant species in its range. When man is not a factor, the panther competes with the jaguar, wolves and bears for dominant species status.

 

What is the historic range of the Panther?

The north american panther's historic range is all over north, central and south America. The map to the right demonstrates the current and historic range. The dark colors show the current range while the lighter colors show the historic range. There are, however, still relatively large amounts of undeveloped land in tracts over 500,000 acres in the eastern and southeastern US and many tales of panther sightings persist to this day. It is feasible that small pockets of panthers could still be roaming in the eastern US.

 

 

What about the Florida panther?
A close relative of the American panther is the Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi), long listed as a sub-species of the North American panther (Puma concolor couguar). However, recent mitochondrial DNA studies have determined the Florida Panther population to be the same species as the rest of the North American panthers, collapsing the two subspecies (coryi and couguar) into one species, the Puma concolor couguar. The Florida panther is unique in that it is protected specifically under the Federal Endangered Species Act and benefits from habitat preservation and federal dollars. Currently the Florida panther is still listed as a separate subspecies in federal law. This may change in the future.

Florida Panther, Puma concolor coryi, or possibly Puma Concolor Couguar

 

Guinness record?
The panther has a Guinness record for the animal with most common names. It occurs in so many regions and in so many cultures that it has been known by many names including cougar, mountain lion, painter, catamount, mountain screamer, puma, wildcat, and others. In the southeast US we call them panthers and mountain lions. And less commonly, mainly in use by mountain cultures is the name painter, which is both an Appalachian dialect for the word "panther" and also may refer to the black- tipped tail that looks like it may have been dipped in paint.

Subspecies of Panthers?
There are many subspecies that may lose recognition as genetically distinct populations due to recent DNA research. These include the Argentine puma, Costa Rican cougar, Eastern South American cougar, North American cougar, Northern South American cougar, Southern South American puma, and of course the Florida panther. These populations are generally geographically isolated from one another but interbreeding regions do occur. In some instances, like the Florida panther, other panther populations have been introduced to increase genetic variability. The Florida panther population has had Texas panthers introduced into the population to combat inbreeding in a population that only numbers between 50 and 70 individuals.

Same size as a human?
Panthers weigh about 120-160 pounds on average and stand to nearly 6 feet on their hind legs. They are roughly the same size as a full grown human. Even though the Panther is very large it is not classified as a “big cat” because it does not roar. But its scream is well known and can put a chill down your spine at night. Cougars have very large paws and have the proportionally largest hind legs of all cats. An adult panther paw print averages 4 inches long.

A panther paw and a paw print. A typical panther paw measures 4-inches from front to back.

 

Panthers and livestock
Panthers have been known to prey on livestock. They have been targeted, along with wolves, for extermination by ranchers and farmers for years. The numbers of livestock killed by panthers to date is still in the hundreds per year in some southwestern US states. Sheep are the most frequently targeted farm animal by panthers. Calves, colts and goats are also prey. Panthers can cost farmers significant losses and therefore the panther is rarely tolerated around working farms.

 

 

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cougar
http://www.panthersociety.org/faq.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_panther