Why Is the Florida Panther called a “panther?
” It would really be nice if you wouldn’t call the ‘Florida Panther’ a panther. It is not a panther. It is of the cougar family. The panther is of the panthera family. -Rick Response: Sorry if you find it confusing. You are correct about the ancestry of the Florida panther. Closest relation is a Texas puma. However, the Florida panther still is a distinct subspecies and is named accordingly. The Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) is one of more than 20 subspecies of cougar (Puma concolor). Until 1993, the cougar was classified in the genus Felis along with the domestic cat, the ocelot, and 27 other species. In 1993 the cougar was reassigned to the genus Puma (Wilson and Reeder 1993). For more information on these names, please contact U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. It is these agencies that are responsible for all nomenclature. http://www.fws.gov/ http://floridaconservation.org/ http://www.panther.state.fl.us/ The original r
