Album: Florida Panther

Everglades National Park

Once common throughout the southeastern United States, fewer than 100 Florida panthers (Puma concolor coryi) are estimated to live in the wilds of south Florida today. The current range of Florida panthers is less than five percent of their original range across Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and parts of Tennessee and South Carolina. Florida panthers were heavily hunted after 1832 when a bounty on panthers was created. Perceived as a threat to humans, livestock, and game animals, the species was nearly extinct by the mid-1950s.