Most people associate Florida with a famous mouse called Mickey, a clumsy dog called Goofy and a loveable duck called Donald. However, despite throngs of tourists snapping countless photo’s with the aforementioned cartoon legends during memorable holidays to Florida, America’s sunshine state is home to a startling array of wildlife that would surprise most visitors. Let’s take a closer look at a few of Florida’s natural inhabitants.

We’ve all heard of the famous Miami Dolphins NFL team, aptly named considering the plentiful population of dolphins off the Florida’s shores. However, there are other mammals parading the Floridian coastal waters in the unmistakeable shape of manatees. Often called ‘sea cows’ and weighing up to 3,500lbs and 3m in length they provide an amazing swimming experience for all the family. The best places to see these herbivorous marine mammals are to jump in your hire car and head for Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge (70 miles north of St Petersburg), Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge and Lee County Manatee Park. Coupled with the fact they’re so big, manatees also spend half the day asleep so they shouldn’t be too hard to spot!
The oceans surrounding Florida support a healthy ecosystem of wildlife. Yes, there are sharks in the water (over 50 species) and Florida holidaymakers are certainly at risk. The state has the highest count of shark attacks in the USA. Now the odds of being attacked by a real-life ‘Jaws’ are 1 in 10 million but there are some tips to reduce those odds further by avoiding swimming alone, refrain from entering the water if bleeding, swimming near fishermen and wearing shiny jewellery when surfing (jewellery replicates how fish scales shimmer to sharks!). Statistically, according to the International Shark Attack file it’s the surfers off Florida’s Atlantic coast that suffer the highest instances of shark bites, so surf with caution dudes.
For a more pleasant animal spotting experience concerning Florida’s oceans you can observe leatherback turtles on the East Coast nesting around the beaches of Cape Canaveral and West Palm, it’s an amazing spectacle, these slow movers are 5ft long and weight 500kg at full maturity and leave 2m wide tracks on the beach as they heave themselves back up the beaches.

Moving on from marine life, Florida is an ideal breeding ground for frogs! There are many species inside its borders but of note are the ‘farmed’ frog species; the Bullfrog and the Pigfrog. The Bullfrog is found only in the north of Florida whereas the pigfrog is widely spread. With a warm and frequently damp climate year round, plus lots of wetland environments such as the Everglades it’s not surprising ‘frogs legs’ are a popular dish in the state! Just to be clear, you’d need a permit to go ‘frogging’ in Florida, but there are probably better ways to spend a holiday in Florida.
Other mammals found in Florida include the raccoon, the armadillo, the coyote and surprisingly the opossum, a marsupial stereotypically associated with Australasia, but regularly spotted in lush, forested areas of Florida. Although only living to an average of 2 years, the opossum thrives on ransacking people’s bins, eating anything they can find. These cute looking furry critters aren’t dangerous to humans and often come off worse in confrontations with domestic dogs and cats.
Disney doesn’t have many cartoon alligators, and when the animal does feature in a Walt Disney classic it’s normally upholding its infamous reputation. With over 1m wild alligators in Florida versus a human population of 17m humans, there’s lots of opportunity for conflict. The beasts can grow to 12ft and their lethargic appearance has misled many a startled holidaymaker, within a flash they can snap their jaws and even run up to 30m.p.h. There are actually Gator Hunters operating in Florida to deal with the problematic reptiles. Obviously the animals know no boundaries but they do not seek human attacks and they usually try to avoid us, however sometimes things go wrong. Pestering, tormenting and throwing food to gators is usually the root cause. So if you’re planning a swim in fresh water, hoping for a spot of riverbank fishing or dangling your feet over the side of a kayak, be very, very careful!
On the subject of ‘beasties’, snakes are very prevalent in Florida with 45 species in total. Not that you’d be likely to see any of these bashful animals whilst on holiday but let’s point them out just in case. Rat snakes (alternatively called Chicken snakes due to their taste for chickens!) are so common across the state of Florida and easily tamed by humans that they’re often kept as pets, despite the likelihood that they’ll grow up to 6ft in length. Back in the wild though, they play a very important role in the local Floridian ecosystems by keeping rodents at bay, hence the name Rat snakes! Unlike the UK, some of Florida’s resident snakes are venomous to humans, here’s the deadly list; Copperhead, Cottonmouth, Rattlesnake, Timber Rattlesnake, Dusky Pigmy Rattler and the yellow striped Coral Snake. Rest assured, it’s very doubtful you’ll see any of these poisonous reptiles unless you visit Central Florida Zoo in Sanford!
Much more visible are ‘lovebugs’, these black flying insects can look like locust swarms at times and make their presence felt in April and May before re-emerging in August and September, they flutter around the highways making driving dangerous and are attracted to hot engines and roasting asphalt. ‘Lovebug’ by name but definitely not by nature.

Hopefully there’s a good insight here into the wildlife that exists in the real Florida away from the theme parks and the zoo’s, some cute and cuddly and some dangerous and worth avoiding, either way enjoy your visit to Florida and say hello to Mickey!

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