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1 June 2012 Photographic Evidence of Wild Florida Panthers Scent-Marking with Facial Glands
Roy McBride, Rebecca Sensor
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Abstract

While hunting Puma concolor coryi (Florida Panther) along known travel routes, we frequently observe our trained hounds alerting to Panther scent by smelling and licking the tips of overhanging limbs and the trunks of downed logs. To determine the type of Panther activity that causes this peculiar reaction from the hounds, we set trail cameras at 3 sites. From October 2010 —August 2011, our cameras recorded 13 visits by 8 different panthers (4 adult males, 2 adult females, and 2 juveniles), either scent-marking objects with facial glands or responding to the residual scent left by the other Panthers. Frail cameras programmed to record time and date established that Panthers were able to detect the lingering scent of facial-gland-marked objects spanning an interval of up to 40 days. Based on the frequency our hounds alert to facial gland scent-marked objects and confirmation of identical observations from 10 professional Puma concolor (Puma) hunters in Paraguay, Mexico, and the southwestern United States, we conclude that this form of invisible communication is used often by Pumas throughout their range. This biological note represents the first photographic evidence of how wild Panthers of both genders scent-mark objects with facial glands.

Roy McBride and Rebecca Sensor "Photographic Evidence of Wild Florida Panthers Scent-Marking with Facial Glands," Southeastern Naturalist 11(2), 349-354, (1 June 2012). https://doi.org/10.1656/058.011.0216
Published: 1 June 2012
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