Ep. 63 - Field Trip!: On the Trail of the Florida Panther

02/22/24 • 72 min

Florida Panthers (Puma concolor couguar) are a distinct population of pumas that live predominantly in southwest Florida. Pumas used to roam the entire United States, but habitat loss and overhunting in the 1800’s and early 1900’s caused them to disappear from much of their range. Every breeding population of pumas East of the Mississippi river vanished, except for one. South Florida, due to its wild and swampy nature, was able to thwart human development just enough for its inhabiting pumas to narrowly avoid oblivion. These surviving pumas, or Florida Panthers, represent the resiliency of wild south Florida. The decades since their near extinction have been filled with controversy, conservation, and politics. This iconic cat still has many challenges to face, and with only 200 or so remaining in the wild, their future is uncertain.

Daniel was first introduced unofficially to this animal during his first trip to Everglades National Park in 2017. The Florida Panther and the swampy, remote areas in which they are found captivated Daniel’s imagination. Every subsequent trip to the Everglades and southwest Florida had at least some time dedicated to searching for this cat, all to no avail. In January 2024, after spending months preparing and researching, Daniel embarked on a five-day solo trip in the backcountry of the Big Cypress National Preserve, with the sole objective of finally crossing paths with a panther.

But what exactly IS a Florida Panther? Are they only found in Florida? Are they black? What is the difference between a Florida Panther and a mountain lion? And of course... do they eat people?!

Luckily, Bill was able to meet Daniel in south Florida to record an episode about the Florida Panther and tackle the questions and misconceptions that leave this cat shrouded in mystery.

This episode was recorded on January 8th, 2024 at Everglades National Park in Homestead, FL.

Episode Notes

When Daniel was talking about Florida Panther size, they were described as smaller than other pumas out west. It should also be noted that while they do fall to the bottom of the size and weight scale of pumas in North America, the populations of pumas closer to the equatorial rain forests in South America are even smaller. This reinforces the notion discussed in the podcast that pumas in colder climates or higher elevation tend to be larger than pumas in warmer climates and lower elevation.

Also, Bill asked Daniel what their life span was, and Daniel was not sure. Bill guessed 20-30 years. According to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, “Panthers can live up to 20 years or more in the wild. Female kittens have a good chance of living 10 years or more. Males have a tougher time, but if they survive to five or six years old, they are likely to live even longer to 10 or more years.” Nicely done Bill!

While discussing vehicular collisions as the number one cause of death of Florida Panther, Bill and Daniel discussed how in 2023, 13 Florida Panthers were killed by vehicular strikes. So far in 2024, there have been five.

Bill and Daniel referred to the rule about animals being larger the farther you get from the equator, but they couldn’t remember the name of the rule. It’s Bergmann’s Rule, and it’s defined as: “one of the best-known generalizations in zoology. It is generally defined as a within-species tendency in homeothermic (warm-blooded) animals to have increasing body size with increasing latitude and decreasing ambient temperature. That is, Bergmann's rule states that among mammals and birds, individuals of a particular species in colder areas tend to have greater body mass than individuals in warmer areas. For instance, white-tailed deer are larger in Canada than in the Florida Keys, and the body size of wood rat populations are inversely correlated with ambient temperature. This principle is named after a nineteenth-century German biologist, Karl Bergmann, who published observations along these lines in 1847.” - from The New World Encyclopedia

Links

Panther Pulse, the database containing documented Florida Panther deaths and depredations: https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/wildlife/panther/pulse/

Path of the Panther: https://pathofthepanther.com

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Thank you to Always Wandering Art (Website and Etsy Shop) for providing the artwork for many of o...

But what exactly IS a Florida Panther? Are they only found in Florida? Are they black? What is the difference between a Florida Panther and a mountain lion? And of course... do they eat people?!

Luckily, Bill was able to meet Daniel in south Florida to record an episode about the Florida Panther and tackle the questions and misconceptions that leave this cat shrouded in mystery.

This episode was recorded on January 8th, 2024 at Everglades National Park in Homestead, FL.

Episode Notes

Links

Panther Pulse, the database containing documented Florida Panther deaths and depredations: https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/wildlife/panther/pulse/

Path of the Panther: https://pathofthepanther.com

Sponsors and Ways to Support Us

Gumleaf Boots, USA (free shipping for patrons)

Thank you to Always Wandering Art (Website and Etsy Shop) for providing the artwork for many of o...

Previous Episode

Ep. 62 - Timber Rattlesnakes: Still Endangered, Still Danger Noodle-y (Part 2)

Part 2 of our Timber Rattlesnake episode. If you haven’t listened to part 1, go and do that. We’ll wait right here for you.

The episode was recorded on December 7, 2023 at Hunters Creek County Park in East Aurora, NY.

Episode Notes

When the guys discussed the different types of snake teeth, Steve wondered if the word solenoglyphous, which refers to snakes with two large, hinged fangs (like the Timber Rattlesnake), has any relation to nightshades, which are plants in the genus Solanum. Bill could have cleared it up right away if he had been sharp enough to notice the difference in spelling. Upon getting home and doing some research, he found that the root soleno is Greek, and it means a tube or pipe. This makes sense given that solenoglyphous snakes have large, hollow fangs. The second part of the word - glyphos – means to cut or carve, so solenoglyphous could be taken to mean “hollow fangs that cut or carve”. Incidentally, Bill also tried to look up what Solanum means. He found many circular references – sites that said Solanum means nightshade, and that nightshade means Solanum. The most promising reference he found said that Solanum possibly stems from the Latin word sol, meaning "sun", referring to the nightshades love of sun, maybe?

Steve asked if proteroglyphous fangs (the smaller, unhinged fangs in species like the Coral Snake) are hollow. Bill thought they might be, and he was right. A little internet digging led to this blog post that had a handy-dandy cross-section of the different types of snake teeth.

Can owls identify venomous snakes? While we couldn’t find any studies, or even any general articles, that covered this specific question, we did find an interesting study that looked at venom resistance in a variety of animals. The research “analyzed the molecular resistance against cobra venom and found considerable differences in resistance between animas groups.” It showed that several mammal species, such as the Honey Badger and the Asian Mongoose, independently evolved resistance to cobra venom, but the snake-eating bird species looked at showed no resistance. The study’s authors hypothesized that "...the resistance is redundant: There is no selection pressure for it. Birds have feathers, scaly legs, excellent vision, are very intelligent, and are very agile. The snakes don't stand a chance against all these adaptations, so birds just don't need to be resistant." So, while we don’t know if owls can ID venomous snakes, at least one team of researchers feels that snake-eating birds are such bad-ass hunters, with so many tools in their evolutionary toolbox, that they wouldn’t even need to tell the difference between venomous and nonvenomous snakes.

And that answers another question the guys asked: Do Honey Badgers eat venomous critters? They do! And the story of how is shared in this great article from Slate. Our favorite quote: “Evolving to withstand snake venom [and so be able to eat a venomous snake] is like being the only person at a party who can eat the extra-hot salsa: You get it all to yourself. Plus...this means the honey badger gets to hunt fairly slow-moving prey with only one pointy end, rather than fast prey with one pointy end plus four sets of claws.”

Steve was correct in calling our Bill for referring to the England as United Kingdom during the USA’s colonial period. The UK did not form until 1801, when the Kingdom of Ireland joined with Scotland, England, and Wales.

Please comment below if you notice any mistakes or unanswered questions in the episode.

Episode Links

As the guys mentioned in the episode, you should check out Snoop Dogg’s delightful series of nature videos: Plizzanet Earth

Here’s more info on The Rattlesnake Roundup in Sweetwater, Texas.

Wild Snake Education and Discussion Group’s article about Timber Rattlesnakes. And here’s a link to their Facebook group, too.

Visit the North American Snakebite Registry

The paper

Next Episode

Ep. 64 - Let's Look at the Eclipse! (Not Literally)

Who doesn’t love an eclipse? Apparently, wildlife has very mixed feelings about the whole affair.

This month, the guys prepare for the upcoming 2024 total eclipse by looking into the research around how animals react to the moon photobombing the sun for a few minutes. The reactions are not universal, but they are varied. And trying to figure out what the animals are up to makes for a fascinating listen.

This episode was recorded on March 20, 2024 at Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve in Cheektowaga, NY.

Episode Notes

Bill mentioned that “wind is air moving between temperature differences.” When listening back to the episode during editing, he worried that maybe he was wrong on that. Looking it up, he did find some websites claiming that wind is due to differences in air pressure and that temperature has little to do with it, but it turns out that’s not quite true either. According to the good people at NOAA (The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the organization referred to in this episode), the answer is both. Their short answer to “what makes wind?” is that it’s the movement of gases from high-pressure areas to low-pressure areas. BUT, they go on to say that the main cause of wind is actually temperature. More specifically, it’s differences in temperature that lead to different air pressures.

It all starts because as the sun warms up the air on the Earth, it does so unevenly. Because the sun hits different parts of the Earth at different angles, and because Earth has oceans, mountains, and other features, some places are warmer than others. Because of this, we get pockets of warm air and cold air.

Since gases behave differently at different temperatures, that means you also get pockets with high pressure and pockets with low pressure. Generally speaking (and notice we said generally), in areas of high pressure, the gases in the air are colder and more crowded. In low pressure zones, the gases are warmer and a little more spread out.

And this is why wind happens. Gases move from high-pressure areas to low-pressure areas. And the bigger the difference between the pressures, the faster the air will move from the high to the low pressure. That rush of air is the wind we experience.

Bill stated that perigee when the moon is farthest from the Earth. WRONG! The point in the moon's orbit where it is farthest from the earth is called apogee, while it's closest approach is known as perigee.

Steve mentioned he though an eclipse viewer was like a camera obscura, and he was correct! A camera obscura is a darkened room with a small hole or lens at one side through which an image is projected onto a wall or table opposite the hole. The camera obscura was used to study eclipses without the risk of damaging the eyes by looking directly into the Sun. From Wikpedia

Links

Ways to get involved recording weather and/or animal behaviors during the eclipse:

The Eclipse Soundscapes Project is a NASA Citizen Science project that's studying how eclipses affect life on Earth

Solar Eclipse Safari is another Citizen Science option that invites you to collect data on animals and their behaviors during the eclipse. This project looks at domestic and well as wild animals.

https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/ - a great website for general info about eclipses

What Do Birds Do During a Total Eclipse? - an article compiling eBird sightings and descriptions of bird behavior during the 2017 eclipse, including an animation of radar data that shows bird activity during totality

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