WILKINS ET AL: FLORIDA PANTHER MORPHOLOGY


SKULL PROFILES


0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8


NORMALIZED PROFILE


Figure 8. Images of profiles interpolated to increments of 0.05 inches and normalized on both the X and Y
axes. The point on the X axis where Y=1.0 (the highest point) becomes a measure of the degree of inflation
of the anterior portion of the cranium. The closer the high point is to X=0, the greater the inflation of the
nasals. Shown is the comparison of a normalized profile of a Florida panther skull compared to that of a
Colorado animal. This illustrates the inflated anterior portion of the skull of the Florida panther compared to
the same area that is more sloping in the Colorado individual.


other pre-defined classes of Florida specimens, and (3) historic P. c. coryi and
other subspecies.

 Results

 Hypothesis of no difference between males and females could not be rejected
at alpha = 0.05, so sexes were combined in this analysis. When HIST P. c. coryi
specimens are compared to other subspecies, the differences are significant in 15 of
27 subspecies (Table 5a). Notable differences include the North American
subspecies P. c. azteca from Arizona, New Mexico (n=55, p=0.028), P. c.
californica from California (n=30, p=0.0), P. c. hippolestes from Colorado (n=24,
p=0.0) and P. c. stanleyana from Texas (n=28, p=0.0001). No significant
differences were detected between HIST P. c. coryi and North American subspecies
P. c. cougar of eastern U.S.(n=4), P. c. olympus (n=l) and P. c. oregonensis
(n=24), the latter two from northwestern U.S.. Significant differences were
recorded between HIST P. c. coryi and three GLADES cats, two PIPER from