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Feb. 15th, 2003 09:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scottobear
Whatever grows out of the dry soil of the Florida Keys is fragile and slender and delicate. That goes for the wildlife, too.These are miniature deer, found nowhere else on earth but in the lower Keys of Florida. There came a glacier long ago to cut the keys off from the mainland. The Key deer, isolated from their mainland cousins, adapted to island life by learning to drink brackish water and by eating less. That's why they're so small. Small in number, too. Sixty years ago, on Big Pine Key, which really has the core of the Key deer herd, there were probably fifty Key deer, and the human population was under a thousand. In the last two decades, we've seen the human population go to over five thousand and the deer population rise to nearly about six hundred.
The little deer barely look up now when cars pass. Every year, some of their lives are taken by speeding cars, and free-roaming dogs. Protection plans include building underpasses for the deer to cross safely under roadways, especially U.S. 1, and strict management of dogs on the islands. What if the Key Deer are wiped out? Whether I see them or not, to know that they're around means something to me.
They have been in the Keys all along. We are the newcomers. The little Key deer have learned to make do with less. How much less than less can they learn to make do with? I'm glad that there are people looking out for them, and hope that it's enough to let them flourish.
Some facts about 'em:
The shoulder height of Key deer is between 24-28 inches. Does weigh 45-65 pounds while bucks weigh 55-75 pounds.
The earliest mention of Key deer is found in the memoirs of Fontaneda, a shipwrecked Spaniard held captive by the Calusa Indians. Records suggest that the deer were found around Key West and were used for food by residents and ship crews alike. Although early records indicated sporadic wider distribution of Key deer throughout the lower keys, current data indicates they occupy a range from Johnson Keys to Saddlebunch Keys.
Random Scotto fact: I lived in the keys during the winter with my family, from Marathon to further south, Big Pine Key. I used to see those deer all the time, and had no idea that there were more kids my age in the Keys than an entire species. I always thought it was neat that there were raccoons that could rear up taller than the deer.
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no subject
Date: 2003-02-15 06:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-15 06:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-15 06:41 pm (UTC)thanks for this tidbit, and I hope they last too.
d.
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Date: 2003-02-15 06:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-15 07:02 pm (UTC)Peace
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Date: 2003-02-15 07:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-15 07:04 pm (UTC)I'm not disappointed that it turns out to be very small deer, though.
Here is an even tinier deer.
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Date: 2003-02-15 07:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-15 08:30 pm (UTC)Its good that people care enough to make sure they continue to thrive.
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Date: 2003-02-15 08:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-15 09:39 pm (UTC)If someone could just breed giant chickens..
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Date: 2003-02-15 09:58 pm (UTC)No more war!