This is a list of mammal species found in the wild in the American State of Florida. In total, 98 species of mammals are known to inhabit, or recently to have inhabited, the state and its surrounding waters. This includes a few species, such as the black-tailed jackrabbit and red deer, that were introduced after the European colonization of the Americas. It also includes the extinct Caribbean monk seal. Rodents account for roughly one quarter of all species, followed closely by mammals from the Cetacea and Carnivora families.
The species included in this list are drawn from the work of The American Society of Mammalogists, which compiled information from five different publications. Information on the international status of species has been drawn from the IUCN Red List.
Florida mammals by order
Florida terrestrial mammals
Carnivora
The coyote arrived in northern Florida in the 1970s as its natural range expanded. Illegal releases were another factor in its occupation of the state. Coyotes are extremely adaptable, living in all types of forests and farms.
Florida has two types of foxes. The native gray fox can be found in the United States almost anywhere, except northern plains and Rockies. It is sometimes confounded with the red fox due to having patches of red hair. The red fox was introduced to Florida by hunting clubs, although it may have been native in the northern panhandle. Its preferred habitats are open areas, while the gray fox prefers woods.
Red wolves were once common throughout the southeastern US, including Florida. Extinct in the wild in 1980, it has been progressively introduced to select nature preserves. The present population was introduced as part of this recovery program in 1997 to the Saint Vincent National Refuge; once red wolf pups reach 18 months, they are relocated to the North Carolina portion of the program.
Bobcats are well adapted to urban development and are not a conservation concern. They make their home in hammocks, forests or swamps.
The Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) is one of the subspecies of cougar. Its main differences from other subspecies are longer legs, smaller size and a shorter darker coat. The skull of the Florida panther is broader and flatter with highly arched nasal bones. Reportedly only seventy adult animals are alive, and a 1992 study estimated that the subspecies would become extinct between 2016 and 2055. It was chosen in 1982 as the Florida state animal by the state's schoolchildren.
It is believed that some jaguarundis were unintentionally released in the wild in the 1940s. There is no evidence besides witness accounts, and the existence of jaguarandis in the state is dubious.
Two of the eleven species of skunks live in Florida. Both the eastern spotted skunk and the striped skunk can be found statewide (except for the Keys).
Small populations of the Everglades mink (Mustela vison evergladensis), a subspecies of American mink, are encountered near Lake Okeechobee, and in the Big Cypress Swamp-Everglades National Park area.
Northern river otters are a common sight close to freshwater streams across Florida. The population is increasing.
Raccoons are prevalent in the lower 48 states, including Florida. Adaptable to almost all kinds of habitats, the animals are among the few who actually benefit from human development, since food becomes more available. Attacks by predators like the bobcat cause minimum mortality, and the main reason for raccoon deaths is considered to be car accidents. They are regarded as predators of sea turtles nests.
All Florida black bear in Florida are part of the subspecies Ursus americanus floridanus. Differences between subspecies are very small; the Florida black bear differs from other subspecies by its highly arched forehead and its long and narrow braincase. Estimates for 2002 indicated the number of bears statewide to be between 2,000 and 3,200 individuals, indicating an increase from the previous census in 1998. The biggest cause of concern is roadkill, although the rates of mortality are equivalent to other areas in the country.
Chiroptera
Of the species listed below, 13 are confirmed to be resident species; all of them are insectivorous. Five species had very low numbers reported and can be classified as accidental species: Indiana bat, Jamaican fruit bat, little brown bat, northern long-eared myotis and the silver-haired bat. Some bats not in this list, but with reported sightings in the Lower Keys, are the buffy flower bat, Cuban flower bat and Cuban fig-eating bat.
Bats can be classified in two groups by their roosting habits: solitary and colony-roosting bats.
Solitary bats prefer to live in leaves, palm fronds and Spanish moss. Resident bats in this category are the Eastern red bat, the northern yellow bat and the Seminole bat. Hoary bats are not considered residents because they migrate to Mexico and South America to spend the winter.
The remaining species are considered to be colony-roosting bats. Darker than their solitary counterparts and less furry, these bats prefer to live under bridges, in tree holes or caves. Only 3 Florida species live in caves: the eastern pipistrelle, the gray bat and the southeastern myotis. Florida has the highest concentration of southeastern myotis in the world.
The greatest threat to bats in Florida is the disturbance or destruction of roost sites, due to vandalism or urban development.
Rodentia
Of the several species of rodents in Florida, the subspecies of oldfield mouse are the biggest conservation concern, along with the Florida mouse. Six of eight subspecies of the Oldfield mouse (commonly named beach mice) are in endangered status, and one is extinct. Given causes for their demise is predators like cats and red foxes and destruction of their natural habitats. The Florida mouse is on the endangered species list because of destruction of their habitat. The mouse is the only mammal that is endemic to Florida. The rodent depends on the gopher tortoise (also endangered) for its survival, because it makes its burrows from tortoise burrows, or in the absence of those, Oldfield mouse burrows.
Non-native species brought in boats by colonizers are the black rat, brown rat and house mouse. Other non-natives are the capybara, the nutria and the Mexican gray squirrel.
Not listed below, but with reported sightings, are the biggest rat in the world, the Gambian pouched rat, which arrived in 2002; and the prairie dog. Both are wild releases of animals kept as pets.
Other orders
The only native even-toed ungulate is the white-tailed deer. It is the most economically important hunting mammal in all of North America, and is one of the major prey animals of the Florida panther. There were only about 20,000 deer in Florida during the late 1930s, and the species was almost extinct in South Florida due to a campaign to eliminate tick-borne diseases. Hunt restraining measures and purchases from other states were very successful bringing the population to more than 700,000 deer statewide. The smaller subspecies, Key deer, lives only in the Keys and numbers around 800 animals. Sambar deer were introduced in 1908 as alternative game for hunters on Saint Vincent Island. The population is between 700 and 1,000 deers; 130 hunters are licensed per year, and each can kill up to two animals. Some red deer were released from a hunting ranch around 1967 and may still exist as a small herd.
Hogs found their way to Florida in 1539 with Spanish colonist Hernando de Soto. Florida has 12% of the three million hogs that roam in the US. They are a popular hunting prey, but are regarded as a pest due to the damage they inflict to agriculture and environment. More than 21,000 hogs were killed in 1980 alone.
All the confirmed Soricomorpha in Florida are nocturnal; the black-tailed jackrabbitâ€"introduced as a training tool for racing greyhounds from 1930 to 1950; the native eastern cottontail, which can be found anywhere but in forests and coastal marshes; and the marsh rabbit, who prefers freshwater and brackish marshes. The subspecies Lower Keys marsh rabbit has the scientific name Sylvilagus palustris hefneri after Hugh Hefnerâ€"because research on the subspecies was financed in part by the Playboy Foundation.
Three species of shrews are found across Florida. Two known subspecies are the Homosassa shrew (Sorex longirostris eionis) and Sherman's short-tailed shrew, Blarina carolinensis shermanii. One of their main predators is the cat. Completing the Soricomorpha are two species of moles.
The rhesus macaque was introduced to Florida in 1933, as props for Tarzan movies, and have established colonies after escaping from the set. Charles River Laboratories, the world's biggest producer of lab animals, maintained a free-range colony until 1999, when they were forced to remove the animals after they destroyed parts of the mangrove forests in Key Haven. Other primates with reported sightings not included in this list are vervet monkeys and squirrel monkeys.
Cingulata are represented by the nine-banded armadillo, released in 1922 by a Marine who kept them as pets, but other accounts place them as having migrated from Texas. Subsequent introductions and fast breeding spread the species statewide.
The Virginia opossum is the only marsupial found in North America north of the Rio Grande. It lives in wooded areas and can be easily found statewide.
Florida marine mammals
Carnivora and Sirenia
Trichechus manatus latirostris is one of the two subspecies of the West Indian manatee. This herbivorous aquatic mammal lives in rivers, springs and shallow coastal waters. It was designated the state marine mammal in 1975 and is protected by federal and state laws. Threatened by habitat loss, entanglements in fishing gear and crab traps, or by being asphyxiated or crushed by canal locks and flood gates, the most common cause for manatee deaths is being struck by boats, which caused one quarter of all deaths recorded since 1974. In 2015, the statewide population was estimated at 6,063.
Florida does not have seal colonies, but stray seals wash ashore in Florida occasionally. The most prevalent of those species have been the common seal and the hooded seal, although a bearded seal was seen in 2007. The Caribbean monk seal was native to the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Once a popular prey for Bahamas fishermen, their numbers diminished greatly in the 1800s. The last sighting of the species in Florida was in 1922, and specimens have not been seen anywhere since 1952.
Cetacea
Of the several whales seen close to Florida, the most frequent and notable visitor is the North Atlantic right whale. Named as such because they were the "right" whales to kill, their only known calving ground is located off the coasts of Georgia and Florida. Pregnant females migrate from feeding grounds located far north and deliver calves from mid December to March. Humpback whales are also re-colonizing the area while gray whales, once cavorting off Florida for the same reasons as the right whales, were extirpated from the Atlantic in the 17th-18th century.
The most common dolphin in the state is the common bottlenose dolphin. Dolphins, like manatees, are vulnerable to red tide and have mass fatalities when one occurs. Dolphins were designated the Florida state saltwater mammal in 1975.
References
- General
- Brown, L. N. (1997). Mammals of Florida. Miami, Florida: Windward Publishing.Â
- Burt, W. H.; R. P. Grossenheider (1976). A field guide to the mammals of America north of Mexico (Third ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.Â
- Nowak, R. M. (1991). Walker's mammals of the world (Fifth ed.). Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press.Â
- Stevenson, H. M. (1976). Vertebrates of Florida, identification and distribution (Fifth ed.). Gainesville, Florida: University Presses of Florida.Â
- Whitaker, J. O.; W. J. Hamilton (1998). Mammals of the Eastern United States (Third ed.). Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.Â
- "State Lists:Mammals of Florida". The American Society of Mammalogists. 2001-05-22. Retrieved 2007-07-18.Â
- Specific