08-13-2003 - Biodiversity

sagar: Author=’Eleanor Imster’ program=’3873′ video=”Kay Behrensmeyer_DB:_ This is Earth and Sky. The Florida panther is the most endangered species of mammal in the U.S.

_JB:_ It’s estimated that there are fewer than 100 Florida panthers left in the wild. These last panthers live in the tip of Florida, south of Lake Okeechobee. They’re large, tawny-colored cats that laze around in the day and hunt at night. By the 1950s, they were hunted to near extinction. In 1967, the Florida panther joined the list of endangered species.

_DB:_ By that time, genetic defects were killing off the last Florida panthers – the result of inbreeding among a small, isolated population. In 1995, to revitalize the gene flow, eight female Texas cougars were introduced into the panther population. Panthers bred naturally with Texas cougars back when their ranges overlapped. Now, it appears the cougar-panther offspring have saved the Florida panther from certain demise.

_JB:_ Human development is quickly crowding out what little wild land is left in Florida. Roads are a problem, too. But “right of way” fencing and “panther crossings” have been installed along some roadways that cross public lands. No panthers have been killed where this “right of way” fencing is set up.

_DB:_ Special thanks today to the “U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service”:http://www.fws.gov/ and to the “National Fish and Wildlife Foundation”:http://nfwf.org/ – supporting the conservation of native fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats. We’re Block and Byrd for Earth and Sky.

Written by EarthSky