What is the best animal to see in the Everglades?

Some stars of this swamp are impossible to miss; others reward a dawn boat ride and a lot of patience. Reptiles, wading birds and a few shy mammals all make a case for the top spot.

1. 1
   West Indian manatee

   A gentle, slow-moving sea cow that drifts through Flamingo's marina and the Gulf Coast bays.
   1000pts
2. 2
   American alligator

   The Everglades' signature reptile, seen sunning on nearly every canal bank and along the Anhinga Trail.
   856pts
3. 3
   Wood stork

   A large, bald-headed stork and the Everglades' threatened wetland indicator species.
   807pts
4. 4
   Great blue heron

   A tall, patient hunter standing motionless in sawgrass marshes and canals.
   592pts
5. 5
   American flamingo

   A once-vanished pink icon now returning to Florida Bay in small flocks.
   592pts
6. 6
   Snail kite

   An endangered raptor that feeds almost entirely on apple snails in the sawgrass marsh.
   513pts
7. 7
   Florida panther

   An endangered cougar subspecies with fewer than 250 left, the park's rarest and most prized sighting.
   513pts
8. 8
   North American river otter

   A playful fish-hunter that pops up in freshwater sloughs and canals.
   513pts
9. 9
   Osprey

   A fish hawk that nests on channel markers and dives feet-first into the bays.
   420pts
10. 10
    Florida black bear

    A reclusive subspecies of black bear that roams the Big Cypress edge of the park.
    420pts
11. 11
    Bald eagle

    The national bird nesting in tall pines and mangroves around Florida Bay.
    420pts
12. 12
    Gopher tortoise

    A burrowing tortoise of the pinelands whose tunnels shelter hundreds of other species.
    420pts
13. 13
    Bottlenose dolphin

    Pods that ride boat wakes in Chokoloskee Bay and the Ten Thousand Islands.
    308pts
14. 14
    Roseate spoonbill

    A pink wading bird with a spoon-shaped bill that sweeps the shallows of Florida Bay.
    308pts
15. 15
    American crocodile

    A shy, saltwater-tolerant crocodile that shares the Florida Bay mangroves with alligators, the only place on Earth where both live together.
    0pts
16. 16
    Anhinga

    The snakebird that spears fish underwater, then dries its wings on the trail named after it.
    0pts
17. 17
    Burmese python

    An invasive giant constrictor that has become the Everglades' most notorious resident.
    0pts
18. 18
    Bobcat

    A stealthy wildcat occasionally spotted at dawn along the Shark Valley loop.
    0pts

Comments 1