Mammals of Florida: A Complete Wildlife Guide

Florida is much more than beaches and theme parks. If you leave the boardwalk and venture into the scrub, swamp, or pine flatwoods, you've entered one of the most mammal-rich states in the country. The mammals of Florida include a gentle giant that grazes underwater and a wild cat so rare that spotting one makes the local news, and they tell a story: most tourists never spot one rummaging through a trash can at night; it is helping your neighbourhood.

This guide includes the mammals that you are most likely to see and a few that only the luckiest hikers ever see.

You will find about 90 native mammals in Florida, ranging from tiny shrews that weigh less than a nickel to manatees that weigh more than 1,000 pounds. That number puts Florida among the more mammal-diverse states in the U.S., thanks in large part to its position at the intersection of temperate and subtropical ecosystems—swamp, scrub, coastline, and pine forest all within a few hours' drive of each other.

The animal that most often comes to people's minds when they think of Florida's wild side is the Florida panther, and for good reason. Today, there are only an estimated 120 to 230 adult panthers left in the wild, most in south-west Florida in places such as Big Cypress National Preserve and the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.

These cats are tan, not black, despite decades of "black panther" sightings, which actually refer to bobcats or escaped exotic animals. Males weigh up to 160 pounds and roam territories of 200 square miles. Vehicle collisions are the biggest threat to their survival, and that's why there are panther crossing signs on highways all over South Florida.

Arguably, Florida is most renowned for the mammal manatees. Slow-moving grazers, they consume seagrass, sometimes as much as 10% of their body weight per day. They're mammals, not fish, which means they have to come up for air every few minutes and nurse their calves, like any other mammal.

The best time to spot a manatee is during the winter. When the water temperature drops below 68°F, manatees congregate at warm-water springs and power plant outflows. Three of the best places in the state are Crystal River, Blue Spring State Park, and the warm-water discharge canal at TECO's Manatee Viewing Centre near Tampa.

For most Floridians, a trip to a preserve isn't necessary to see wildlife—it's in your backyard. These are the mammals you're most likely to see.

A special note should be made about the Florida bonneted bat, the largest bat species in the state and one of the most endangered mammals in North America, with an estimated population of fewer than 1,000. Unlike most bats, it is active on warmer winter nights, so South Florida is one of the few places you might see it year-round.

Yes, Florida does have black bears (an estimated 4,000 of them, distributed among several subpopulations from the Panhandle to the Big Cypress region). Adult males can weigh more than 300 pounds. As suburban development encroaches on bear habitat, interactions have risen, leading counties like Seminole and Lake to have active bear-proofing programmes for trash cans.

When hiking in bear country, make noise as you go and never approach a bear that is feeding. Most encounters are uneventful, simply because the bear leaves first.

Besides manatees, there are a handful of other marine mammals that inhabit Florida's coast that are worth knowing:

• Bottlenose dolphin — Common in nearshore waters and estuaries throughout the state
• North Atlantic right whale — This species is critically endangered and gives birth to calves off the north-east coast of Florida each winter.
• Florida manatee — A subspecies of the West Indian manatee found in freshwater and saltwater

The right whale is particularly important. One of only two known calving grounds for the species on Earth is in Florida's coastal waters off Jacksonville. There are fewer than 360 right whales left in the world.

Florida's mammals range from the endangered to the everyday, but each is a piece of what makes the state's ecosystems work. Next time you're out here at dusk, look at the treeline. You might see more than you expect.