| The
Florida Panther lives in the low tides, palm forests
and swamps of southern Florida in the United States.
The Florida Panther is also known as the cougar, mountain
lion, puma, and catamount. |
| The
Florida panther is a carnivore. Its favorite prey is
the white-tailed deer. It also eats raccoons, armadillos,
birds, and other small prey. It stalks its prey and
pounces on it, bites the animal's neck and cuts the
spinal chord. It may also suffocate its prey by grabbing
it by the throat and cutting off its air. The panther
then drags its food to a safe place. It eats part of
the animal and covers the rest with grass and eats it
later. Depending on the size of the kill, it may feed
on it for three or four days. |
| The
panther marks its territory with markings called scrapes.
Scrapes are piles of dirt and grass scratched up with
the panther's hind legs. They are about six inches long
and are usually marked with urine. |
| The
Florida panther is a subspecies of the mountain lion.
It has short, light brown fur and a white muzzle, chest
and stomach. It has a long tail with a slight crook
in it. The crooked tail and a whorl of hair on its back
are characteristics that make it different from the
mountain lion. Males are between seven and eight feet
long and weigh between 100 and 160 pounds. Females are
about six feet long and weigh between 60 and 100 pounds.
|
| The
gestation period of a bobcat is about 90 days and the
average litter is from 1-3 cubs. |
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