Key Deer Buck, National Key Deer Refuge
This image was created recently and it shows the endangered Key deer in its native habitat, the pine rockland of the lower Keys. The Key deer is the smallest sub-species of the North American white-tailed deer, usually weighing less than 80 pounds and standing less than waist high on most people. Key deer were threatened by over-hunting until it was prohibited in the early 1950s when the population was estimated to be 50 individuals. Since that time things have changed dramatically in the Keys, and new anthropogenic threats are new placing pressures on the abundance and distribution of the Key deer--like habitat loss, vehicular traffic, habitat fragmentation, and illegal feeding. We can be proud that after half a century of protection, their population has increased by more than ten times. However, today in the age of climate change and sea level rise, their future remains uncertain.
key deerNational Key Deer RefugeFlorida Keysdeerendangered