Sunday, February 2, 2014

Florida Key Deer




We drove to Big Pine Key just to see if we could spot the smallest North American deer and sure enough we found some!  No bigger than large dogs, an adult doe stands 24 inches at the shoulder and weighs 60 pounds.  Bucks are a little taller and can weigh up to 80 pounds.  At birth, fawns weigh only 2 to 5 pounds.  That's smaller than a human baby!  

They have been an endangered species since 1967 but loss of habitat, road kill, and development have dropped the number of these deer to 300 or less.  

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