Consequences of Demographic Reduction and Genetic Depletion in the Florida Panther

This study documented the genetic and physiological crisis of the Florida panther, a puma population isolated and reduced to a few dozen animals in southern Florida. The authors reported very low genetic variation, a high frequency of kinked tails and cowlicks, undescended testicles, poor sperm quality, and heart defects, all consistent with severe inbreeding depression. They connected these abnormalities to the population's long isolation and small size, warning that without intervention the panther faced extinction. The paper became a defining case study of inbreeding depression in a wild carnivore and set the stage for the later genetic-rescue program that introduced Texas pumas.