Florida Panther Genetic Restoration and Management Annual Performance Report

Land, Darrell; Cunningham, Mark; Lotz, Mark; Shindle, David; McBride, Roy

This is an annual report for the Florida Panther Research project and includes panther deaths, kittens at dens, and genetic status. Telemetry data were collected on 42 radiocollared Florida panthers (Puma concolor coryi) and 3 Texas cougars (P. c. stanleyana) in southern Florida during the reporting period. Five radio collared panthers and 3 uncollared panthers died this past year. Male panthers FP96 and FP97 and female panther FP49 died of intraspecific aggression; male panther FP92 and female panther FPl 05 died of unknown causes. The three uncollared panthers were struck and killed by vehicles. Six new panthers were added to our radiocollared population this past capture season. Our current verifiable population count is 80 adult and subadult panthers and does not include kittens at dens. We documented 14 panther dens during the study period producing a total of 30 neonate kittens (13 female, 17 male). No Texas puma produced litters during the study period. All of these kittens were handled successfully at their dens, permanently marked with subcutaneous transponder chips, and skin biopsies taken. We have radiocollared a total of 112 panthers since 1981 and handled 136 neonate kittens at dens since 1992. Apparently, genetic introgression is reducing the occurrence of kinked tails, cowlicks, and cryptorchidism. Preliminary analyses indicate that the likely representation of Texas puma genes is on target with the originally proposed introgression level of 20%.