HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION: The cougar once had the broadest natural distribution of any terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere, and ranged from the Yukon to the tip of South America. After two centuries of intensive hunting and habitat loss, only isolated populations remain today. Cougars are found in many western states but, east of the Mississippi River, the only known population is in southwest Florida. A few decades ago, panthers were found throughout Florida, including the Keys; however, today they primarily occur in the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve, the Big Cypress National Preserve, the Everglades National Park, and surrounding private lands, where cypress and mixed hardwood swamps are interspersed with freshwater marshes, old fields, and pine flatwoods. Panthers are found in most types of vegetation, including pine flatwoods, mixed-hardwood pine, hardwood hammock, tropical hammock, hardwood swamp, cypress swamp, mangrove swamp, freshwater marshes, and Brazilian pepper thickets. Historically, a habitat prerequisite for panthers apparently was an abundant deer population. The introduction of domestic livestock such as cattle (Bos taurus) and swine (Sus scrofa), colonization by armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus), and recent intensive agricultural practices have considerably changed environmental conditions and prey resources for this species.