>>2429310>There are panthers in Florida but they aren't mountain lions, jackass.No offense Anon but they are. Mountain lions used to be across the entire US but after years of hunting them they are restricted to the western US with one notable holdout range in florida. Whenever a mountain lion is found wandering in the midwest and gets hit by a car or something one of the first things researchers do is try and trace its lineage to either the west coast or the florida population to see where it wandered in from because the two groups have been seperated long enough to be genetically distinguishable from each other.
>The cougar has the largest range of any wild land animal in the Americas, spanning 110 degrees of latitude from the Yukon Territory in Canada to the southern Andes in Chile.[1] The species was extirpated from eastern North America, aside from Florida, but they may be recolonizing their former range and isolated populations have been documented east of their contemporary ranges in both the US and Canada.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CougarAnywhere red on the map is where cougars (mountain lions) live. Anywhere yellow is where its uncommon for them to be but they CAN be there. Florida has a red spot which is a confirmed cougar population.
Moral of the story: regardless of where you are in the USA always hike with a gun and watch your back. Cougars attack people every year. Lots of stories of hunters being stalked by big cats.
