AN OLD TRIP TO SEE THE KEY DEER - FLORIDA KEYS

My post today is another transfer from my old blog.  We are going back to January 2014.

These sweet looking deer are the endangered Key Deer.  They can be found in Pine Key, in the Florida Keys, and are tiny compared to the White-tailed Deer.  

At first you feel like you are looking at a youngster.  However, an adult's shoulder height is only between 24 to 32 inches. A doe can weigh 45 to 65 lbs. and a buck 55 to 80 lbs.  At birth fawns only weigh between 2 to 4 lbs.

The wire fencing shown is surrounding someone's yard.  This little one was on the edge of the road, but I am not as close as it looks as I am using my camera with a zoom lens.  

Next is the same photo as above.  I used it for a blog post, and you can find it at this link. I repeat what I have shared here, but there is also more at other links. I removed the chain link fence using Paint Shop Pro. I believe there are even easier functions now, which I am only just discovering.  For instance, moving the background entirely by using a feature on google.com.  That way you can put the subject on any background you choose.

We were in a quiet neighborhood with not a lot of heavy traffic, the roads were narrow and the rare car we came across drove very slowly. 

The miniature Key Deer are a subspecies of the White-tailed Deer.  No one really knows the origins of the deer in the Keys, but it is believed that they migrated from the mainland thousands of years ago, across a long land bridge.  

As the Wisconsin Glacier melted, the sea rose dividing the land bridge into small islands, now known as the Florida Keys.

The earliest known written reference to Key Deer comes from the writings of Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, a Spanish sailor shipwrecked in the Florida Keys and captured by Native Americans in the 1550's.  If you want to find out more about him click on this link.  He had an interesting life.  This is another reason I love blogging, on researching a post I learn so much more.

And if you want to learn more about the Key Deer, you can click here.

Thanks for looking and enjoy your day!