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!

THE KEY DEER

This beauty is a Key Deer found when holidaying in Florida. We had heard about them and kept a lookout. They are the only large herbivore in the Florida Keys, and feed on several native plant species.  Their diet consists of 160 species of plants including red, black and white mangroves, and thatch palm berries.

A little history that I gleaned from the websites I included towards the end of my post.

The Key Deer, member of a sub-species of the Virginia white-tailed deer, and its average height is between 24-32 inches.  Does average about 65 pounds and bucks around 85 pounds.  The color of fur ranges from a reddish brown to a slate gray.  Mature bucks shed their antlers between February and March, and they begin growing a new set almost immediately.  

It is found nowhere else in the world.  It is thought that they came to the Keys from the mainland across a long land bridge and were isolated from their relatives, somewhere 6,000 to 12,000 years ago, when the Wisconsin Glacier melted.  The waters rose and divided this land bridge into the islands of the Florida Keys.

The first documented mention of the Key Deer was in the memoirs of Hernando Escalante Fontanada, a 13 year old Spanish sailor who was on his way to Spain from Cartagena and was shipwrecked near "Cayo Vaca", the modernday Marathon area.  Fontanada was captured and held captive by Indians for about 18 years, until he was freed and allowed to return to Spain with crewmembers of a passing ship.

They are also the smallest subspecies of the North American White Tailed Deer.   If you go to this link it will take you a website that shows Jack Watson, the first refuge manager of National Key Deer Refuge.  The first photo gives you a visual of how 'big' these deer are. 

We found Beauty munching at the side of a narrow road with two companions, in one of the communities along the Keys.  I wasn’t too close as I was taking my photos with a zoom lens, crouching down as far as possible, while resting my camera on the ledge after I had put the car window down.   

Competing males start locking horns in the Fall, and the majority of white-spotted fawns are born in late Spring and the summer months. 

Poaching and habitat loss reduced their numbers to only a few dozen in the 1950s, but establishing the refuge and subsequently putting the deer on the endangered list in 1967, allowed the deer to recover.  At the time of our visit their number were close to a thousand. However, as they are most active at night, there have been several collisions with cars and so, like anywhere else, it is very important to drive with care and keep a lookout for wildlife.

Most of us nature lovers know this already, but interaction such as illegal feeding by humans have led to unhealthy conditions.  It is truly important to keep wildlife wild. 

I have several links below as I always enjoy looking at various sites with information, and maybe you will enjoy them too. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_deer

https://floridakeys.com/lower-keys/key-deer/

https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/mammals/land/key-deer/

Not wanting to disturb them for more than a few precious moments, we left them to continue feeding.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope your day is a great one and have a very enjoyable weekend.  Stay safe and happy!