This morning we are in search of Key Deer. When we arrived at Big Pine Key we stopped at the information center for the National Key Deer Refuge and were told that key deer had been spotted on No Name Key. So, off to No Name Key we went and sure enough we found a herd of five females or juveniles.

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The Key deer is an endangered deer that lives only in the Florida Keys. It is a subspecies of the white-tailed deer. It is the smallest North American deer. In the photo the deer looks normal size,

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then you see them in a photo with Ed. Now they look small.

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The oldest looking deer is wearing a radio transmitter.

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A little later we saw this buck.

Sitting in the middle Big Pine Key — of one of the largest islands in the chain — an abandoned rock quarry forms a freshwater lake now known as the Blue Hole.

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We saw the two resident alligators,

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a few turtles,

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and an iguana. A park volunteer told us that the iguanas we've been seeing are not indigenous to Florida and in fact are nuisances as the there are no natural predators.

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In 2005, Hurricane Wilma caused the salt water level to rise, killing some of the pine trees. A drought the subsequent year made matters worse. There are still a lot of dead trees but mother nature is working hard to restore the pine forest.