Talk:Florida panther
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article is supported by the Cats WikiProject.
This project provides a central approach to Cat-related subjects on Wikipedia. |
|
| Stub | This article has been rated as Stub-Class on the Project's quality scale. (If you rated the article please give a short summary at comments to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses.) |
|
 |
This article is part of WikiProject Florida, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to the State of Florida on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. |
hi. more like 80 animals now, there have been animals brought in from texas to help with inbreeding. new recovery plan out. there was a major controversy over the science being used to give wetland development permits.
[edit] Capitalization: Florida panther or Florida Panther?
Also, it's Florida panther, not Florida Panther. Pigkeeper 06:51, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
- The capitalization of species' names has been the subject of controversy. As of now, it can go either way. --Khoikhoi 07:08, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
Edit wars are silly, but really, Florida panther is the accepted usage, not Florida Panther. Examples:
- US Fish and Wildlife Service Species Profile http://ecos.fws.gov/speciesProfile/SpeciesReport.do?spcode=A008
- Official US Fish and Wildlife Service Florida Panther Recovery documents (of course the document titles have a capitalized 'p', because all the words are capitalized, but click on the docs and see for yourself. These include the recovery plan, and several publications about it in the Federal Register. In all cases, you see "Florida panther" being used. http://www.fws.gov/verobeach/WhatsNew/Press_release/Panther_Information.htm
- The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's pages: http://myfwc.com/panther/
- And the scientific literature says "Florida panthers", see the abstract in this review: http://www.wildflorida.org/critters/panther/Beier-Panther-SRT.pdf
So it doesn't go "either way". There is accepted usage here. People who want to change it back to Panther should engage in this conversation and not just revert. Revert is for vandalism. Buck up and discuss. And give citations! Pigkeeper 08:20, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
Also, please see for example this style manual for scientific terminology from the University of Minnesota [1]. It says:
In general, do not capitalize the names of wild and domestic plants and animals. Capitalize only proper nouns and adjectives used with their original reference.
- English ivy
- Rocky Mountain sheep
- dutchman’s breeches
Looking at Wikipedia's conventions, we see that some animal species are capitalized and others aren't, and it says mammals are a mixed bag, "mostly capitalized". If we look closer though, we see that yes, your area (monkeys) is that way, but in other areas this isn't the rule. Some places it's sloppy, like the polar bear article. Other places it's clearly a toss-up, like with the bat species pages. Many bat species are lower case, many are upper case. So it's a gray area. However, the wiki naming conventions also say:
In general, Wikipedia follows academic practice in each group of organisms.
I think this is the closest there is in terms of wikipedia policy here. And I have demonstrated that there is near unanimous academic and management practice for saying Florida panther, nor Florida Panther.
If people aren't willing to drop this, please at least engage in the discussion and don't do reverts without justification. It feels insulting.
I HAVE read the commentary at Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Mammals, too. Please see Beyazid's reasoning for returning cheetah to lower-case. Those substantive reasons apply to the Florida panther case, too.
Pigkeeper 08:56, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
- First, I don't take IPs too seriously, especially when they don't post on talk, but insist they are correct in edit summaries. Second, you've likely seen me comment on capitalization, and how I think caps are better than sentence case. I stand by my reasoning. Third, the article title and its text should match. Since you've moved the article, I will leave it alone for now, until the matter is settled at a level higher than this article. - UtherSRG (talk) 12:17, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
- Thanks for writing back. I accept the criticism about IPs, although you changed it earlier when a named user made it lower case. Also, while I prefer to follow the usage of scholarly and management sources, I accept that there is a case to be made for capitalization. However, if this decision is made, the naming conventions page should explain that wikipedia is going against the grain in some cases (or is a part of the vanguard, as you might put it). Right now it says academic practice is generally followed, but that wouldn't be the case here. Pigkeeper 22:44, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] status as a subspecies?
The Florida Panther is not a legitimate subspecies (see the changes I've made at the Puma page). This ought to be made a section of the Puma concolor cougar page whose title will be changed to North American Cougar.Eco jake 13:42, 26 July 2006 (UTC)Eco Jake
The dialogue between subspecies lumpers and splitters is ongoing for many animals, including puma, but there is certainly no consensus to revise subspecies status for the Florida panther. Given the relevance to protection under the Endangered Species Act, such a revision should not be proposed lightly. Although a recent study describes the subspecies of Puma concolor as fairly similar on a molecular level, the panther is one of the more distinctive of the subspecies, and factors other than molecular similarity are considered when deciding whether to revise subspecies status. Recent scientific articles about the Florida panther retain the subspecies designation (see Beier et al. 2006 and Conroy et al. 2006), as does the the Draft USFWS Florida Panther Recovery Plan, recently released for public comment.
Beier, P, MR Vaughan, MJ Conroy, and H Quigley. 2006. Evaluating scientific inferences about the Florida Panther. Journal of Wildlife Management 70:236-245. online URL: http://www.wildlifejournals.org/archive/0022-541X/70/1/pdf/i0022-541X-70-1-236.pdf
Conroy, MJ, P Beier, H Quigley, and MR Vaughan. 2006. Improving the use of science in conservation: lessons from the Florida panther. Journal of Wildlife Management 70:1-7. online URL: http://www.wildlifejournals.org/archive/0022-541X/70/1/pdf/i0022-541X-70-1-1.pdf
Ecover 00:10, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
Eastern cougars are critically endangered as well as the Florida panther. Sub-speicies are an important point in speciesation; destructions would possibly be an pre-empted extinction. Perhaps the east could learn from the west … but that is much beyond the scope of any Encyclopædia article. Nonprof. Frinkus 03:58, 7 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] panther
brandi riggins 1/19/07
1.where do they live?
2. what do they eat?
3. what color are they?
4. are they mean?
5. are they big?
1a.florida
2a.deers
3a. black,tan,gray,
4a. if you make them mad
5a.yes
other info
In 1982 florida schoolchildren chose the panther as their state animal.panther hunt for deers. most panthers live in florida.panthers are very big.panthers have a long tail.they have slender bodies.the panther is more then ten times the size the
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 168.9.210.89 (talk) 17:25, 19 January 2007 (UTC). Um, no black or grey panthers hereabouts! ;-) Pigkeeper 10:34, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
