SPECIES PINE HARDWOOD GLADES MANGROVE FRESH- FLORIDA COASTAL REMARKS
ROCKLAND HAMMOCK SWAMP WATER BAY and PRAIRIE
SWAMPS KEYS
Opossum X X X X X X X
Short-tailed X
Shrew
Least Shrew X
Marsh Rabbit X X X X X X
Fox Squirrel X ?
Rice Rat X X
Cotton Mouse X X X X
Hispid Cotton X
Rat
Florida Water X X
Rat
Raccoon X X X X X X X Abundant
Black Bear ? ? ? ? ? ? Very rare
Mink X X
River Otter X X
Gray Fox [1]X
Bobcat X X X X X X
Florida panther X X X X Rare
White-tailed X X X X X
Deer
Bottle-nosed X
Dolphin
Manatee [2]X X
[1]In pinelands.
[2]Estuaries.
South Florida is the last known refuge in the world for a sub-species of
cougar known as the Florida panther. This large, beautiful cat is on the
endangered species list. Today many groups and individuals are working
to keep this predator a part of the environment. Their efforts have
resulted in methods to assist panther recovery: lower speed limits and
highway culverts and bridges, to mention only two. With continued
assistance, the panther may remain a part of the Everglades for years to
come.
Because it is much more numerous and much less secretive in its habits,
the bobcat is more likely to be encountered by park visitors than is the
cougar. Keep your eyes alert for this wild feline—particularly in the
Flamingo area—and you may have a chance to observe it closely and at
some length (even by daylight!). Such boldness and such unconcern for
humans are not typical of this species, but seem to be peculiarities of
the bobcats living in the park. Although bobcats are not known as water
lovers, they are found in all the Everglades environments. Their
apparent liking for life in the park may be due to an abundance of food
and to freedom from persecution by man and his dogs. Bobcats in
Everglades, if their food habits elsewhere are any guide, probably live
on rodents, marsh rabbits, and birds, with possibly an occasional fawn.
In Florida Bay and the estuaries, look for the porpoise, or bottlenosed
dolphin, a small member of the whale order that has endeared itself to
Americans through its antics at marine aquariums and on television.
Watch for it when you are on a boat trip in the park’s marine
environment.
Much less commonly seen, and much less familiar, is the timid and very
rare manatee. It’s probably the “most” animal of the park—the largest
(sometimes over 15 feet long and weighing nearly 1 ton), the shyest, the
strangest, and the homeliest; and it is probably also the most delicate,
for a drop in water temperatures may kill it. The estuaries of
Everglades National Park are almost the northern limits of its normal
range. But manatees are often found well north of the park on both
coasts in cold weather, when they swim up rivers to seek the
constant-temperature water discharged by electric power plants. Despite
its size, the manatee is a harmless creature, being a grazer—a sort of
underwater cow that is exceptionally vulnerable to motorboats because of
its gentle nature and languid movement.
[Illustration: MANATEE]