The two Florida panthers may have thought their moment of physical intimacy went unnoticed, one more wild encounter in their remote corner of the state.
But a trail camera placed by biologists captured their activities, in the first photos ever taken of Florida panthers in the act of mating. Judging from their expressions, the encounter turned out to be as complicated and mixed with pain as any human relationship.
The panthers were photographed by a camera triggered by movement at Babcock Ranch Preserve, a patch of pine forest, cypress swamp and prairie northeast of Fort Myers.
“It’s surprising to get it on camera,” said Brian Kelly, a biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, the state agency that placed cameras in the preserve. “It’s something that happens all the time — wild animals reproduce. But how often do you actually get visual documentation of it?”
The photos show the male approaching the female, presumably in heat and producing a scent that attracted the male, he said.
“When panthers mate, they’re going to copulate as often as every 20 minutes for several days, and so this is one of those copulations,” he said. “He’s coming up, he’s sniffing her, they’re probably vocalizing as well, probably calling, an auditory indication of being ready, and then she crouches down into position and he mounts her.”
The photos appear to show aggression between the two panthers after the sex act, with the female baring her teeth at the male. There’s a likely explanation for this, Kelly said, and it involves the male’s genitalia, which is barbed. This feature is thought to help with reproduction — but it can also be painful for the female at the conclusion.
“And so she probably reacts, showing her teeth, hissing, maybe even swiping at him,” he said. “And he retreats backwards and responds with his own facial grimace.”
“But that’s over and he’ll probably keep on following her and they’ll mate again, and they’ll probably repeat this many times over the course of a few days.”
The location is significant because it’s north of the Caloosahatchee River, a waterway once thought to be a barrier to female panthers. Although females and kittens have started being detected north of the river, the photos of the mating panthers provides striking visual evidence that the endangered cats are expanding their breeding range.
“It’s significant for the viability of the panther population in the future,” Kelly said. “It’s critical that they’re able to expand into Central Florida, so this being north of the Caloosahatchee River, it’s a significant location for sure. We know it’s happened because we’ve seen offspring, reproduction north of the river. But this is the first time we’ve actually photographically documented an actual mating event.”
David Fleshler can be reached at and 954-356-4535.
