The Florida Black Bear, Ursus americanus floridanus, is a unique subspecies of the American black bear. Prior to the late 1800s it occurred throughout Florida from the Panhandle to the Keys, and the southern fringes of neighboring Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. At that time an estimated 12,000 black bears roamed Florida

Since then, deforestation, unregulated hunting prior to 1950, habitat loss and habitat fragmentation (the process of breaking large areas of natural habitat into smaller pieces, often a result of urbanization) have resulted in the loss of a substantial portion of the Florida black bear population and 80% of its habitat. Today, less than 2,500 - 3,000 Florida black bears occur in isolated and scattered populations throughout the state. As a result, the black bear was listed by the state of Florida as a threatened species in 1974 except in Apalachicola National Forest and Baker and Columbia counties.

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