Everglades Wildlife: Animals of Florida's River of Grass

The Everglades at a glance

The Everglades is not a typical swamp but a vast, shallow river. In the wet season, water spills south from Lake Okeechobee and moves slowly across a limestone shelf, through sawgrass marshes up to 1.8 m (6 ft) tall, to Florida Bay. The writer Marjory Stoneman Douglas made the name “River of Grass” famous in her 1947 book, the same year Everglades National Park was dedicated.

The park covers about 6,100 km² (1.5 million acres), the third-largest national park in the lower 48 states. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a Wetland of International Importance, and it protects the largest continuous mangrove system in the Western Hemisphere. Habitats include sawgrass prairie, cypress domes, hardwood hammocks (tree islands), pine rocklands, mangrove forests and the shallow waters of Florida Bay. Large parts of the original Everglades have been drained for farms and cities, which is why the remaining wilderness is so important.

Wet season and dry season

Everglades wildlife follows the water. The wet season, roughly May to October, brings heavy afternoon thunderstorms that flood the marshes. Fish, frogs and crayfish spread out across the landscape, and many animals disperse.

In the dry season, roughly December to April, water levels drop and the marsh shrinks to scattered pools, ponds and canals. Fish become concentrated in the remaining water, and wading birds time their nesting to this feast. Alligators help by keeping “gator holes” open, deep pools that hold water when the land around them dries out and become refuges for fish, turtles and birds. This is when wildlife is easiest to see.

American alligator

The American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) is the signature animal of the Everglades and its most important “engineer”. Adult males usually measure 3–4.5 m (10–15 ft), while females rarely exceed 3 m (10 ft). They are dark gray to almost black, with a broad, rounded snout.

Alligators are easy to see along canals and trails in the dry season, often basking motionless in the sun. They eat fish, turtles, snakes, birds and mammals. Alligator nests, mounds of rotting vegetation, are also used by turtles and snakes as safe places to lay their own eggs. The species is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN after a strong recovery from overhunting in the 20th century.

American crocodile

The American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) reaches the northern edge of its range at the southern tip of Florida. It is lighter in color than an alligator, grayish-green to olive-tan, with a narrow, tapering snout and visible lower teeth when the mouth is closed. Unlike alligators, crocodiles have working salt glands and live mainly in brackish and salt water around Florida Bay, the mangrove coast and the Keys.

Florida’s crocodiles were once reduced to a few hundred animals by habitat loss. Protected nesting beaches, especially around Flamingo, helped them recover, and in 2007 the United States reclassified the species from endangered to threatened. Worldwide, the IUCN lists it as Vulnerable. American crocodiles are shy and rarely aggressive toward people. To tell the two apart, see our guide to alligator vs crocodile.

Florida panther

The Florida panther is the only confirmed population of cougar (Puma concolor) in the eastern United States. In the 1970s perhaps only about 20 survived. With protection and the release of eight female cougars from Texas in 1995 to restore genetic health, numbers rose to the current estimate of about 120–230 adults.

Panthers are tawny, long-tailed cats; adult males weigh about 45–75 kg (100–165 lb) and females 29–45 kg (64–100 lb). They hunt white-tailed deer, wild hogs, raccoons and armadillos. Most live in southwestern Florida, in Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and surrounding private land, and they are rarely seen. Collisions with vehicles are the leading cause of death, which is why wildlife underpasses and panther crossing signs line roads such as Interstate 75 through Big Cypress.

West Indian manatee

The West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) is a slow, gentle, plant-eating marine mammal that grazes on seagrass and freshwater plants. Adults are typically 2.7–3.5 m (9–11.5 ft) long and weigh 200–600 kg (440–1,320 lb). In the Everglades, look for them in the canals and marina at Flamingo, in Florida Bay and along the rivers of the Gulf Coast near Everglades City.

Manatees cannot survive long in water colder than about 20°C (68°F), so in winter they gather in warm springs, rivers and outflows. The IUCN lists the species as Vulnerable, and in 2017 the United States reclassified it from endangered to threatened. Boat strikes, cold snaps and loss of seagrass remain serious threats.

Wading birds: spoonbills, storks, herons and egrets

The Everglades is the most important breeding area for tropical wading birds in North America. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, plume hunters killed huge numbers of egrets, herons and spoonbills for fashionable hat feathers, and the outrage helped launch the bird conservation movement.

• Roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja): bright pink with a flat, spoon-shaped bill that it sweeps from side to side through shallow water to catch small fish and shrimp. Its color comes from carotenoid pigments in its food, as in flamingos. Florida Bay is a key nesting area.
• Wood stork (Mycteria americana): the only stork that breeds in the United States, white with black flight feathers and a bare, dark gray head. It feeds by touch, walking with its open bill in the water and snapping it shut on fish in a fraction of a second. It needs falling water levels to feed its chicks, and its US status improved from endangered to threatened in 2014.
• Herons and egrets: great blue herons, great egrets, snowy egrets, tricolored herons and little blue herons are common, along with white ibis, which often feed in large flocks.

Anhingas and other Everglades birds

The anhinga (Anhinga anhinga) is the bird most visitors remember. It swims with only its long, thin neck above the water, which earns it the nickname “snakebird”, and spears fish with its sharp bill. Its feathers are not fully waterproof, which helps it dive, so it often perches with wings spread wide to dry in the sun.

Other notable birds include ospreys and bald eagles around Florida Bay, colorful purple gallinules in the marshes, and the Everglade snail kite, an endangered bird of prey whose hooked bill is shaped for pulling apple snails out of their shells. In winter, the wetlands also fill with migrant ducks, warblers and shorebirds, and American flamingos are increasingly seen in Florida Bay.

Burmese pythons and other invasive species

The Everglades has a serious problem with non-native animals. The most notorious is the Burmese python (Python bivittatus), a giant constrictor from Southeast Asia that most likely came from released or escaped pets. Pythons were seen in Everglades National Park in the 1990s and recognized as a breeding population by 2000. Many adults are 3–5 m (10–16 ft) long.

Pythons eat birds, mammals and even alligators. Road surveys in the 2000s recorded dramatic drops in raccoons, opossums and bobcats compared with the 1990s, and in one study pythons wiped out a reintroduced population of marsh rabbits in less than a year. Our article on how pythons got to Florida tells the full story. Other invasive animals include Argentine black and white tegus, Nile monitors, green iguanas, Cuban treefrogs and several kinds of non-native fish.

Where to see wildlife in the Everglades

• Anhinga Trail (Royal Palm, near the Homestead entrance): a short boardwalk over a slough, excellent for alligators, anhingas, cormorants, herons and turtles in the dry season.
• Shark Valley: a paved loop road through the sawgrass, explored by tram, bicycle or on foot, with an observation tower. Alligators and wading birds are often right beside the path.
• Flamingo: at the end of the main park road on Florida Bay, with chances of crocodiles, manatees, ospreys and shorebirds.
• Big Cypress National Preserve: cypress swamps and prairies next to the park, good for wading birds and alligators, and the heart of panther country.
• Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary: an Audubon boardwalk through old-growth bald cypress near Naples, home to wood storks, owls and songbirds.

Early mornings and late afternoons are the best times to watch, and binoculars make a big difference. Bring insect repellent, especially outside the dry season.

Staying safe around Everglades wildlife

Alligators and crocodiles rarely threaten people who leave them alone. Keep a distance of at least 4.5 m (15 ft), never get between an alligator and the water, keep children and pets close, and never feed alligators, which is illegal in Florida and teaches them to approach people. The park is also home to venomous snakes, including the cottonmouth, eastern diamondback rattlesnake and dusky pygmy rattlesnake; see our guide to snakes in Florida. If anyone is bitten or injured, call 911 immediately.