The Florida panther is the only cougar species found east of the Mississippi River. Although you’ll see the Florida panther on everything from license plates to hockey team jerseys, this elusive cat was one of the first animals added to the federal list of endangered species and is one of the rarest mammals in the world, with current population numbers hovering around 100 adult cats.

What Kind of Cat Is It?

The Seminole tribe of Florida calls it coo-wah-chobee, or “big cat.” A naturalist will say Puma concolor coryi. A 16th-century European explorer may have referred to it as a devil cat.

Since the Pleistocene era, North America has been home to big cats, a genus now classified under the name puma. The Florida panther is a distinct subspecies discovered in 1896 by naturalist Charles Barney Cory and is genetically habituated to the forests and swamps of southern Florida.

A Panther Needs Territory

The biggest challenge for the Florida panther? Habitat loss. Between 1935 and 1990, the human population of Florida grew by an estimated 4.7 million. That’s an average of 1,700 people a week.

A male panther has a territory of about 200 square miles — the equivalent of roughly 100,000 football fields — and, like most felines, won’t share its territory with other males. The average female panther requires about 80 square miles of territory but will share territory with other females as well as with males.

With numbers like these, it’s easy to understand why so few panthers remain and why so many — typically 15 to 18 a year — are struck by motorists as they search for new territory.

Our Efforts

For the Florida panther to breed and hunt successfully in an increasingly developed landscape, corporations, private citizens and public agencies must work together to preserve Florida’s natural areas. That’s just what happened when, in 2011, we completed a multi-year effort to save nearly 650 acres of prime panther habitat with the support of a local landowner. Located outside of Naples near the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, this land is a top conservation priority of the Interagency Florida Panther Response Team, which includes the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Together, we’ve given this big cat a little more room to roam at home.

A Panther by Any Other Name

Other names for the Florida panther include mountain lion, painter, catamount, klandagi (in Cherokee), fire cat, katalgar (in Cree) and cougar.