Iconic 10-year-old male panther joins list of Florida's famous big cats

Some panthers are special.

Florida lost another iconic cat recently as a 10-year-old male dubbed 255 was hit and killed by a vehicle along Corkscrew Road in eastern Lee County.

Photographers, preserve managers and advocates had seen the cat for years, roaming the Corkscrew Swamp Ecosystem Watershed, a 60,000-acre marsh near the Lee-Collier border.

"I saw him every couple of weeks but i had no idea where he went, and apparently he cruised a broad area of swamp," Tom Mortenson said when viewing a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission map of 255's travels over the course of more than a year. "I'm stunned (to see how far he traveled). People with backyards within 10 miles of that area may have gotten photos of him too."

Panthers are the official state animal, voted so by a group of third graders in 1981, and occasionally a special panther comes along.

There was Uno, the late one-eyed panther that was shot in the face and rear who eventually ended up at the Naples Zoo; No Ears, a male whose collar was found on the side of highway, causing biologist to believe he was killed by a car; and Florida panther 191, a 14-year-old female with Texas cougar genetics who produced many generations of cubs and is credited with help saving the population.

Females give birth every two years or so and typically have a litter of one to four kittens. Using that formula, FP191 could have given birth to 20 or more kittens during her life.

Mortenson believes he captured video of a female and three kittens that 255 sired.

Florida panther 255 is thought to have sired many kittens himself, and Tom Mortenson believes he captured one of 255's mates and her three kittens on video.

Mortenson has a series of wildlife cameras in and around CREW, and he's become familiar with the big cats that use those lands on a regular basis.

Were Florida panther 255 and No Ears related?

Mortenson saw 255 before he was first collared by FWC in 2019.

The big male apparently shared part of his territory with No Ears, the panther whose collar was found along the highway.

"I always through they were brothers because they seemed to get along with each other well for two dominant males," Mortenson said. "Now No Ears is gone and 255 took over."

More: FWC: Four panther deaths in 2 weeks, latest near proposed Kingston development

Mortenson is the person who named No Ears, which was a reference to the cat's lack of ears, probably from fighting other panthers.

"There were two very large panthers and they collared both of them at the same time," Mortenson said. "I named No Ears and everybody in the panther world adopted that, but I never came up with a catchy name for 255. But he had this frayed right ear and this bulge in his tail."

Panther 255 was first captured and collared in 2019

Panther 255 was a large male, weighing in at a whopping 144 pounds, according to necropsy records.

"Ten years is getting long in the tooth for a male panther given how rare and elusive they are," said Dave Onorato, an FWC panther biologist. "He certainly survived his share of tussles with other nearby males."

Panther 255 was first captured and collared on Feb. 4, 2019. That collar came off, and he was recaptured at CREW in 2023, Onorato said.

More: Poster child for Endangered Species Act, Florida's majestic panther still faces threats

"The thing that was striking for us is that he was a 10-year-old male, and I think that age is significant," said Amber Crooks, environmental policy director at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. "We lose so many panthers before they become adults. And to have a 10-year-old is notable, and the location is notable on Corkscrew Road. It's essentially where the CREW watershed trails are and it's not far from the Kingston development as the crow flies."

FWC telemetry data shows that 255 traveled from east of the Naples area to Immokalee, CREW and onto what are now agriculture lands along Corkscrew Road.

Telemetry: 10-year-old male panther regularly crossed Corkscrew

Panther 255 used many lands that are now planned for development, and the big cat crossed Corkscrew Road on a regular basis.

Eastern Corkscrew Road has experienced extensive development in recent years, and more developments, like Kingston, are being planned.

That one development is expected to generate 94,000 vehicle trips per day for what will be a small town near the CREW trails.

Crooks and others are trying to convince the U.S. Fish and Wildlife to hold off on the final permitting for the Kingston development as it's expected to result in the death of up to 23 cats per year.

Will another male emerge at CREW?

"This panther roamed from just north of Ave Maria around to Lake Trafford, Petter Ranch, CREW, Bird Rookery Swamp and additional territory at the Kingston property," Crooks said.

Mortenson said he isn't sure what to expect at CREW next as far as the order of male panthers.

"I'm curious and waiting to see what happens," Mortenson said. "I've seen other uncollared males on my cameras, but my guess is because of the presence of 255 were just passing through. The others are females and the kittens I saw last summer were almost certainly his kittens."

Male panthers have a range of hundreds of acres, and it would seem logical that another dominant male will move into the CREW area soon, or emerge from the young males that now live on the fringe of the preserve.

"In another year or two from now we may be out there following another male out there," Mortenson said.

Connect with this reporter: Chad Gillis on Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Decade of dominance: male Florida panther likely sired dozens of kittens