scottobear | (no subject)

Originally published at The Scotto Grotto. You can comment here or there.

The last free-roaming panthers in North America can be found in south
Florida’s Everglades. These beautiful, tawny beasts are the Florida
panthers, of which only 30-50 remain in the wild.

Because Florida panthers require unspoiled territories that are many
miles across, the continuing human development of the Everglades and
Big Cypress wetlands has dramatically reduced their numbers.
Recently, study programs have been locating and tracking the animals,
and large tracts of land have been added to the protected parklands
in an effort to help preserve their home ranges.

Between wetlands restoration, panther tracking and study, and captive
breeding programs, it might be possible to rescue the Florida
panthers from extinction. As top predators in the South Florida
ecosystem, the panthers’ numbers reflect the success or failure of
the entire Everglades restoration effort.

More about the endangered Florida panthers:
http://mapping.usgs.gov/mac/isb/pubs/booklets/scientists/panthers.html
http://www.nps.gov/ever/current/panther2.htm

The vast, expensive, difficult Everglades restoration effort:
http://features.LearningKingdom.com/fact/archive/1999/08/19.html