Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge
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Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge
The Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge is part of the United States National Wildlife Refuge System, located in southwestern Florida, twenty miles east of Naples, in the upper segment of the Fakahatchee Strand of the Big Cypress Swamp. It is north of I-75 and west of SR 29. History The refuge was established in 1989 under the Endangered Species Act by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, to protect the endangered Florida panther, as well as other threatened plant and animal species. The Florida panther is the only cougar population found east of the Mississippi River. The refuge is part of a network of private land and government protected areas. Some of the public sections of the system are the Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve and Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve. In all, less than 100 panthers use the area, with fewer than a dozen passing through the refuge each month. To protect the panther and other endangered inhabitants, general public use i ...
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Collier County, Florida
Collier County is a county (United States), county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 375,752; an increase of 16.9% since the 2010 United States Census. Its county seat is East Naples, Florida, East Naples, where the county offices were moved from Everglades City, Florida, Everglades City in 1962. Collier County comprises the Naples, Florida, Naples-Immokalee, Florida, Immokalee-Marco Island, Florida, Marco Island Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Cape Coral, Florida, Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida, Fort Myers-Naples Combined Statistical Area. History Archaeology at Platt Island in the Big Cypress National Preserve shows humans settled in what is now Collier County more than two thousand years ago. The Calusa people had an extensive presence in the area when Europeans arrived. The county was created in 1923 from Lee County, Florida, Lee County. It was named for Barron Collier, a New York C ...
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South Florida Rocklands
The South Florida rocklands ecoregion, in the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome, occurs in southern Florida and the Florida Keys in the United States, where they would naturally cover an area of . These forests form on limestone outcrops with very thin soil; the higher elevation separating them from other habitats such as coastal marshes and marl prairies. On mainland Florida, rocklands exist primarily on the Miami Rock Ridge, which extends from the Miami River south to Everglades National Park. South Florida rocklands are further divided into pine rocklands and rockland hammocks. Pine rockland Description The pine rocklands are a critically imperiled ecosystem located in southern Florida, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Cuba. Its location in south Florida and throughout the Caribbean Archipelago straddles the southern and northern ends of the temperate and tropical flora ranges, respectively. This helps explain why the pine rocklands ar ...
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Swallow-tailed Kite
The swallow-tailed kite (''Elanoides forficatus'') is a pernine raptor which breeds from the southeastern United States to eastern Peru and northern Argentina. It is the only species in the genus ''Elanoides''. Most North and Central American breeders winter in South America where the species is resident year round. Taxonomy and systematics The swallow-tailed kite was first described as the "swallow-tail hawk" and "''accipiter cauda furcata''" (forked-tail hawk) by the English naturalist Mark Catesby in 1731. It was given the binomial scientific name ''Falco forficatus'' by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', published in 1758; he changed this to ''Falco furcatus'' in the 12th edition of 1766. The latter spelling was used widely during the 18th and 19th centuries, but the original spelling has precedence. The genus ''Elanoides'' was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot in 1818. The name is from Ancient Greek for "kite" an ...
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American Alligator
The American alligator (''Alligator mississippiensis''), sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator or common alligator, is a large crocodilian reptile native to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two extant species in the genus ''Alligator'', and is larger than the only other living alligator species, the Chinese alligator. Adult male American alligators measure in length, and can weigh up to , with unverified sizes of up to and weights of making it one of the largest members of the family Alligatoridae, alongside the black caiman. Females are smaller, measuring in length. The American alligator inhabits subtropical and tropical freshwater wetlands, such as marshes and cypress swamps, from southern Texas to North Carolina. It is distinguished from the sympatric American crocodile by its broader snout, with overlapping jaws and darker coloration, and is less tolerant of saltwater but more tolerant of cooler climates than the American crocodile, which ...
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Coyote
The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecological niche as the golden jackal does in Eurasia. The coyote is larger and more predatory and was once referred to as the American jackal by a behavioral ecologist. Other historical names for the species include the prairie wolf and the brush wolf. The coyote is listed as Least Concern, least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, due to its wide distribution and abundance throughout North America. The species is versatile, able to adapt to and expand into environments modified by humans. It is enlarging its range by moving into urban areas in the eastern U.S. and Canada. The coyote was sighted in eastern Panama (across the Panama Canal from their home range) for the first time in 2013. The coyote has 19 recognized sub ...
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Florida Black Bear
The Florida black bear (''Ursus americanus floridanus'') is a subspecies of the American black bear that has historically ranged throughout most of Florida and the southern portions of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. The large black-furred bears live mainly in forested areas and have seen recent habitat reduction throughout the state due to increased human development, as well as habitat modifications within bear habitat. Description Physical Florida black bears are typically large-bodied with shiny black fur, a short tail and many have brown fur on their muzzles. Pelage color is consistently black in Florida, but summer molting of the guard hairs may cause them to look brown. A white chest patch, called a blaze, is found in about 30% of the population. It is Florida's second largest terrestrial mammal (behind the American bison that are still found in Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park), with an average male weight of ; the largest known male weighed an ...
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Raccoon
The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of . Its grayish coat mostly consists of dense underfur, which insulates it against cold weather. Three of the raccoon's most distinctive features are its extremely dexterous front paws, its facial mask, and its ringed tail, which are themes in the mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas relating to the animal. The raccoon is noted for its intelligence, as studies show that it is able to remember the solution to tasks for at least three years. It is usually nocturnal and omnivorous, eating about 40% invertebrates, 33% plants, and 27% vertebrates. The original habitats of the raccoon are deciduous and mixed forests, but due to their adaptability, they have extended their range to mountainous areas, coastal marshes, and urban ...
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Armadillo
Armadillos (meaning "little armored ones" in Spanish) are New World placental mammals in the order Cingulata. The Chlamyphoridae and Dasypodidae are the only surviving families in the order, which is part of the superorder Xenarthra, along with the anteaters and sloths. Nine extinct genera and 21 extant species of armadillo have been described, some of which are distinguished by the number of bands on their armor. All species are native to the Americas, where they inhabit a variety of different environments. Armadillos are characterized by a leathery armor shell and long, sharp claws for digging. They have short legs, but can move quite quickly. The average length of an armadillo is about , including its tail. The giant armadillo grows up to and weighs up to , while the pink fairy armadillo has a length of only . When threatened by a predator, ''Tolypeutes'' species frequently roll up into a ball; they are the only species of armadillo capable of this. Etymology The wor ...
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Bobcat
The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2002, due to its wide distribution and large population. Although it has been hunted extensively both for sport and fur, populations have proven stable, though declining in some areas. It has distinctive black bars on its forelegs and a black-tipped, stubby (or "bobbed") tail, from which it derives its name. It reaches a total length (including the tail) of up to . It is an adaptable predator inhabiting wooded areas, semidesert, urban edge, forest edge, and swampland environments. It remains in some of its original range, but populations are vulnerable to extirpation by coyotes and domestic animals. Though the bobcat prefers rabbits and hares, it hunts insects, chickens, geese and other birds, small rodents, and deer. Pre ...
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Fox Squirrel
The fox squirrel (''Sciurus niger''), also known as the eastern fox squirrel or Bryant's fox squirrel, is the largest species of tree squirrel native to North America. Despite the differences in size and coloration, it is sometimes mistaken for American red squirrels or eastern gray squirrel The eastern gray squirrel (''Sciurus carolinensis''), also known, particularly outside of North America, as simply the grey squirrel, is a tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus''. It is native to eastern North America, where it is the most prodi ...s in areas where the species co-exist. Description The squirrel's total length measures , with a body length of and a similar tail length. They range in weight from . There is no sexual dimorphism in size or appearance. Individuals tend to be smaller in the west. There are three distinct geographical phases in coloration: In most areas the animal's upper body is brown-grey to brown-yellow with a typically brownish-orange underside, while in e ...
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Epidendrum Nocturnum
''Epidendrum nocturnum'' (the "nocturnal epidendrum") is the type species of the genus ''Epidendrum'' of the Orchidaceae (Orchid family). The species occurs in Florida, Bahamas, West Indies, Belize, Central America to northern Brazil and the Guyanas. ''Epidendrum nocturnum'' is common in South Florida. It is usually autogamous (flowers self-pollinate) and sometimes cleistogamous (flowers self-pollinate before they open). The haploid chromosome number of ''E. nocturnum'' has been determined as ''n'' = 20. The diploid chromosome number has been determined both as 2''n'' = 40 and as 2''n'' = 80. In 1984, the variety ''E. nocturnum'' var. ''guadeloupense'' was determined to have a diploid chromosome number of 2''n'' = 42—48. On November 7, 2010, Kew did not recognize the existence of this variety in its World Checklist of Selected Plant Families The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (usually abbreviated to WCSP) is an ...
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Cyrtopodium Punctatum
''Cyrtopodium'', often abbreviated Cyrt in horticulture, is a genus of more than 40 species of epiphytic and terrestrial orchids found from Florida and Mexico through Argentina. ''Cyrtopodium'' is the only genus in the monotypic subtribe Cyrtopodiinae.Pridgeon, A.M., Cribb, P.J., Chase, M.A. & Rasmussen, F. eds. (2009). Genera Orchidacearum, Volume 5. Oxford Univ. Press. The type species is '' C. andersonii'', originally described in 1812 by A.B. Lambert as ''Cymbidium andersonii'', and in 1813 used by Robert Brown to erect his new genus ''Cyrtopodium''.Brown, Robert, in Aiton, William Townsend. 1813. Hortus Kewensis; or, a Catalogue of the Plants Cultivated in the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew. London (2nd ed.) 5: 216. List of species # ''Cyrtopodium aliciae'' L.Linden & Rolfe # ''Cyrtopodium andersonii'' (Lamb. ex Andrews) R.Br. in W.T.Aiton # ''Cyrtopodium blanchetii'' Rchb.f. # ''Cyrtopodium braemii'' L.C.Menezes # ''Cyrtopodium brandonianum'' Barb.Rodr. # ''Cyrtopodiu ...
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