Path of the Panther

Rare glimpses into the hidden world of North America's most endangered big cat reveal a story of survival against mounting odds. Path of the Panther, showing at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum FIU from January 25 through August 24, presents a remarkable photographic chronicle by National Geographic Explorer Carlton Ward Jr. Through images captured over six years using specialized camera traps, the exhibition documents the Florida panther's precarious existence within the state's vanishing wild spaces. Once reduced to fewer than 20 individuals in the 1980s, these elusive predators have rebounded to approximately 200 today, though their future depends on the preservation of connected wilderness corridors. Ward, an eighth-generation Floridian and conservation photographer with a master's degree in ecology, has dedicated nearly two decades to advocating for the Florida Wildlife Corridor—a crucial network of public and private lands that could secure the panther's survival. The exhibited photographs, which also appear in National Geographic Magazine and Ward's book of the same name, illuminate the complex relationship between this iconic species and the changing landscape it inhabits.