Key deer

Last updated

Contents

Key deer
Key Deer JCB.jpg
A female on Big Pine Key
Status TNC T1.svg
Critically Imperiled  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae
Subfamily: Capreolinae
Genus: Odocoileus
Species:
O. virginianus
Subspecies:
O. v. clavium
Trinomial name
Odocoileus virginianus clavium
FLMap-doton-BigPineKey.PNG
Key Deer range

The Key deer (Odocoileus virginianus clavium) is an endangered subspecies of the white-tailed deer that lives only in the Florida Keys. It is the smallest extant North American deer species. [2]

Description

This deer can be recognized by its characteristic size, smaller than all other white-tailed deer. Adult males (known as bucks) usually weigh 25–34 kg (55–75 lb) and stand about 76 cm (30 in) tall at the shoulder. Adult females (does) usually weigh between 20 and 29 kg (44 and 64 lb) and have an average height of 66 cm (26 in) at the shoulders. The deer is a reddish-brown to grey-brown in color. Antlers are grown by males and shed between February and March and regrown by June. When the antlers are growing, they have a white velvet coating. The subspecies otherwise generally resembles other white-tailed deer in appearance. [3]

Behavior

Key deer easily swim between islands. Living close to humans, they have little of the natural fear of humans shown by most of their larger mainland relatives (an example of island tameness). The deer are often found in residents' yards and along roadsides where plants and flowers grow. This often results in car-to-deer collisions, as the deer are more active (and harder to avoid) at night. Seeing them at dusk and dawn is not unusual. [4]

Breeding

Breeding occurs all year, but peaks in October and December. Territorial activity is limited to defending a receptive doe from other bucks. Longevity records are 9 years for males and 7 years for females. Adult females form loose matriarchal groups with one or two generations of offspring, while bucks feed and bed together only outside the breeding season. [5]

Distribution and habitat

The range of the Key deer originally encompassed all of the lower Florida Keys (where standing water pools exist), but is now limited to a stretch of the Florida Keys from about Sugarloaf Key to Bahia Honda Key. Key deer use all islands during the wet season when drinking water is more generally available, retreating to islands with a perennial supply of fresh water in dry months. By August 2019, most individuals were living on only one of the Florida Key islands, Big Pine Key. [6] Key deer inhabit nearly all habitats within their range, including pine rocklands, hardwood hammocks, mangroves, and freshwater wetlands.

Diet

The species feeds on over 150 types of plants, but mangroves (red, white, and black), silver palm fruit and thatch palm berries make up the most important parts of their diets. [7] Pine rockland habitat is important, as well, because it is often the only reliable source of fresh drinking water (Key deer can tolerate drinking only mildly brackish water). Habitat destruction due to human encroachment causes many deer to feed on non-native ornamental plants, which may only increase the likelihood of human conflict. [8] [9]

History

The Key deer is a subspecies of white-tailed deer which migrated to the Florida Keys from the mainland over a land bridge during the Wisconsin glaciation. 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 1550s.

A male Key Deer on No Name Key in the lower Keys Key deer male.jpg
A male Key Deer on No Name Key in the lower Keys
A female Key deer on Big Pine Key Odocoileus virginianus clavium female graze.jpg
A female Key deer on Big Pine Key
A juvenile Key deer is called a fawn. Odocoileus virginianus clavium fawn.jpg
A juvenile Key deer is called a fawn.
Due to proximity, most Key deer have lost their fear of humans. This, besides habitat loss, is the main reason why they have become endangered. Truekeydeer.jpg
Due to proximity, most Key deer have lost their fear of humans. This, besides habitat loss, is the main reason why they have become endangered.

Endangered status

Key deer were hunted as a food supply by native tribes, passing sailors, and early settlers. Hunting them was banned in 1939, but widespread poaching and habitat destruction caused the subspecies to plummet to near-extinction by the 1950s. The National Key Deer Refuge, a federally administered National Wildlife Refuge operated by the Wildlife Service, was established in 1957.

Recent population estimates put the population between 700 and 800, putting it on the list of endangered species. Road kills from drivers on US 1, which traverses the deer's small range, are also a major threat, averaging between 125 and 150 kills per year, 70% of the annual mortality.

The population has been impacted by the fragmentation, destruction and degradation of its habitat, generally due to urbanization. Human feeding of deer has also proven problematic, as the animals become dependent on this food source. Fences have become an obstacle to migration and dispersal. [10]

However, the population has made an encouraging rise since 1955, when population estimates ranged as low as 25, and appears to have stabilized in recent years. Still, recent human encroachment into the fragile habitat and the deer's relatively low rate of reproduction point to an uncertain future for the subspecies. In August 2019 the USFWS recommended that the Key deer be "delisted due to recovery". [6] The species remained listed, but its recovery plan was amended in 2022 to specify the conditions in which delisting or downlisting would be appropriate. [11]

The ongoing rise in sea level, owing to climate change, is a new threat to its remaining habitat on the islands of southern Florida. [12] Beginning in 2023 when assisted migration was newly authorized as a recovery option for endangered species, Key deer was among the animal species mentioned in the press that might have no other option for escaping extinction in its historical range. [13] A November 2023 news article about the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act summed up the problem for Key deer this way: "Rising seas created the Key deer. Rapidly rising seas, a symptom of human-caused climate change, are challenging its continued existence and raising tough questions for the people trying to keep the nation's more than 1,300 other threatened and endangered species alive." [14]

Screw worm infestation

In September 2016, a screw worm infestation was discovered (the first infestation of its kind in the U.S. since 1982) to be affecting the Key deer population, necessitating the euthanasia of affected animals. The screw worm is a fly larva that enters an open wound of a live animal and eats the flesh of the animal from within, leading to a gruesome death. The female fly mates once in her life, so the infestation can be battled by introducing sterile male flies to the population, causing the females to die out without laying fertile eggs. Other steps to battle the outbreak included injecting deer with antiparasitic drugs, fencing off healthy sections of the population, and tracking a portion of deer with radio collars. The pest was declared as eradicated in April 2017. The outbreak killed 135 deer, roughly an eighth of the herd. [15] [16] [17] [18]

Conservation efforts

Conservation efforts include the establishment of the National Key Deer Refuge, which consists of about 8,500 acres (34 km2) on Big Pine, No Name Key, and several smaller uninhabited islands. Not all of the refuge lands are protected as public lands; despite extensive efforts of the refuge to purchase these private habitat lands for protection in the refuge, about 5,000 acres (20 km2) currently remain in private ownership and can potentially be developed. About 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) of this privately developable land is on Big Pine Key and No Name Key, which are the central population areas for the deer.[ citation needed ] In 2006, a habitat conservation plan was enacted by Monroe County and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which will limit development in primary habitat and provide for additional habitat purchases over the next 15 years. At the end of this period, however, most of the 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) of privately owned habitat land on Big Pine and No Name Keys will still be open for further development. Thus, while the short term promises some cushion from extinction, the long-term prospects for the deer remain in doubt.[ citation needed ]

A portion of U.S. Route 1 was also elevated in 2003 to allow the deer to pass safely beneath the roadway, in an attempt to lessen the chance of road kills. However, no decrease in total traffic deaths has been seen. [19]

The National Key Deer Refuge encourages people to help keep the Key deer wild by not feeding them. Feeding acclimates them to humans and vehicles, and makes them more likely to be hit and killed by vehicles. Also, hanging around people and developed areas in higher than normal densities makes them more susceptible to diseases, dog attacks, and entanglements in human trash, all of which can lead to increased injuries or death. [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Pine Key, Florida</span> Census-designated place in Florida, United States

Big Pine Key is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Monroe County, Florida, United States, on an island of the same name in the Florida Keys. As of the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 4,521.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Endangered Species Act of 1973</span> United States law

The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is the primary law in the United States for protecting and conserving imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and development untempered by adequate concern and conservation", the ESA was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973. The Supreme Court of the United States described it as "the most comprehensive legislation for the preservation of endangered species enacted by any nation". The purposes of the ESA are two-fold: to prevent extinction and to recover species to the point where the law's protections are not needed. It therefore "protect[s] species and the ecosystems upon which they depend" through different mechanisms. For example, section 4 requires the agencies overseeing the Act to designate imperiled species as threatened or endangered. Section 9 prohibits unlawful ‘take,’ of such species, which means to "harass, harm, hunt..." Section 7 directs federal agencies to use their authorities to help conserve listed species. The Act also serves as the enacting legislation to carry out the provisions outlined in The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The Supreme Court found that "the plain intent of Congress in enacting" the ESA "was to halt and reverse the trend toward species extinction, whatever the cost." The Act is administered by two federal agencies, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). FWS and NMFS have been delegated by the Act with the authority to promulgate any rules and guidelines within the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) to implement its provisions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-tailed deer</span> Species of hooved mammal

The white-tailed deer, also known commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia, where it predominately inhabits high mountain terrains of the Andes. It has also been introduced to New Zealand, all the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean, and some countries in Europe, such as the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Romania and Serbia. In the Americas, it is the most widely distributed wild ungulate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mule deer</span> Deer indigenous to western North America

The mule deer is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildlife conservation</span> Practice of protecting wild plant and animal species and their habitats

Wildlife conservation refers to the practice of protecting wild species and their habitats in order to maintain healthy wildlife species or populations and to restore, protect or enhance natural ecosystems. Major threats to wildlife include habitat destruction, degradation, fragmentation, overexploitation, poaching, pollution, climate change, and the illegal wildlife trade. The IUCN estimates that 42,100 species of the ones assessed are at risk for extinction. Expanding to all existing species, a 2019 UN report on biodiversity put this estimate even higher at a million species. It is also being acknowledged that an increasing number of ecosystems on Earth containing endangered species are disappearing. To address these issues, there have been both national and international governmental efforts to preserve Earth's wildlife. Prominent conservation agreements include the 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). There are also numerous nongovernmental organizations (NGO's) dedicated to conservation such as the Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, the Wild Animal Health Fund and Conservation International.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Driftless Area National Wildlife Refuge</span> National Wildlife Refuge of the United States in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin

Driftless Area National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Iowa, southwestern Wisconsin and northwestern Illinois. It is a collection of non-contiguous parcels in the vicinity of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbian white-tailed deer</span> Subspecies of deer

The Columbian white-tailed deer is one of the several subspecies of white-tailed deer in North America. It is a member of the Cervidae (deer) family, which includes mule deer, elk, moose, caribou, and the black-tailed deer that live nearby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Key Deer Refuge</span> Protected area in Monroe County, Florida, USA

The National Key Deer Refuge is a 8,542-acre (34.57 km2) National Wildlife Refuge located on Big Pine Key and No Name Key in the Florida Keys in Monroe County, Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Key Largo woodrat</span> Subspecies of rodent endemic to Key Largo, Florida, United States

The Key Largo woodrat, a subspecies of the eastern woodrat, is a medium-sized rat found on less than 2,000 acres of the northern area of Key Largo, Florida, in the United States. It is currently on the United States Fish and Wildlife Service list of endangered species. Only 6500 animals were thought to remain in North Key Largo in the late 1980s.

Fern Cave National Wildlife Refuge is a 199-acre (0.8 km2) National Wildlife Refuge located in northeastern Alabama, near Paint Rock, Alabama in Jackson County.

The Key West National Wildlife Refuge is a 189,497 acre (766.867 km2) National Wildlife Refuge located in Monroe County, Florida, between Key West, Florida and the Dry Tortugas. Only 2,019 acres (8.171 km2) of land are above sea level, on several keys within the refuge. These keys are unpopulated and are also designated as Wilderness within the Florida Keys Wilderness. The refuge was established to provide a preserve and breeding ground for native birds and other wildlife as well as to provide habitat and protection for endangered and threatened fish, wildlife, plants and migratory birds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge</span> United States National Wildlife Refuge in Florida

The St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge is part of the United States National Wildlife Refuge System, located in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Apalachicola, on the barrier island of St. Vincent. The refuge includes Pig Island, located in the southwest corner of St. Joseph Bay, nearly 9 miles west of St. Vincent and 86 acres of mainland Florida along Franklin County Road 30A. The 12,490 acre (51 km2) refuge was established in 1968.

The Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge is part of the United States National Wildlife Refuge System, located in north Key Largo, less than 40 miles (64 km) south of Miami off SR 905. The 6,686 acre (27.1 km2) refuge opened during the year of 1980, under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973. It was established in order to protect critical breeding and nesting habitat for the threatened American crocodile and other wildlife. This area also includes 650 acres (2.6 km2) of open water in and around the refuge. In addition to being one of only three breeding populations of the American crocodile, the refuge is home to tropical hardwood hammock, mangrove forest, and salt marsh. It is administered as part of the National Key Deer Refuge which is also located in the Florida Keys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miami blue</span> Subspecies of butterfly

The Miami blue is a small butterfly that is native to coastal areas of southern Florida. It is a subspecies of Thomas's blue. Once common throughout its range, it has become critically endangered, and is considered to be near extinction. Its numbers have recently been increased by a captive breeding program at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

<i>Coccothrinax argentata</i> Species of palm

Coccothrinax argentata, commonly called the Florida silver palm, is a species of palm tree. It is native to south Florida, southeast Mexico, Colombia and to the West Indies, where it is found in the Bahamas, the southwest Caribbean and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Its natural habitat is rocky, calcareous soil in coastal scrubland and hammock communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge</span>

The Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge is a 9,125-acre (37 km2) National Wildlife Refuge made up of several parcels of land along 50 miles (80 km) of Maine's southern coast. Created in 1966, it is named for environmentalist and author Rachel Carson, whose book Silent Spring raised public awareness of the effects of DDT on migratory songbirds, and of other environmental issues.

<i>Orthalicus reses</i> Species of gastropod

Orthalicus reses, the Stock Island tree snail, is a species of large tropical air-breathing tree snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Orthalicidae. It was first described in 1830 by the American naturalist Thomas Say. The holotype, a specimen probably collected in Key West, was subsequently lost. Over a hundred years later, in 1946, the American biologist Henry Augustus Pilsbry redescribed the species using a specimen from Stock Island, Florida. Orthalicus reses has two subspecies, O. reses reses and O. reses nosodryas. The validity of these two taxa is still being discussed, but some experts argue that considering them as independent units may be important for management purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Endangered species</span> Species of organisms facing a very high risk of extinction

An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, and invasive species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List lists the global conservation status of many species, and various other agencies assess the status of species within particular areas. Many nations have laws that protect conservation-reliant species which, for example, forbid hunting, restrict land development, or create protected areas. Some endangered species are the target of extensive conservation efforts such as captive breeding and habitat restoration.

Hilton Head white-tailed deer are a subspecies of white-tailed deer indigenous to Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. The deer live in a mainly suburban environment and have developed home range areas on the island.

The Key Largo cotton mouse is a subspecies of rodent in the family Cricetidae. The subspecies is endemic to Key Largo in the upper Florida Keys. It is a slightly larger mouse with a more reddish color than other mouse species from mainland Florida. The Key Largo cotton mouse can breed throughout the year and has an average life expectancy of five months.

References

  1. ↑ "NatureServe Explorer 2.0" . Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  2. ↑ "Key Deer". National Wildlife Federation. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
  3. ↑ "Key Deer Information - National Key Deer Refuge - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service". www.fws.gov. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
  4. ↑ "Key Deer - National Key Deer Refuge - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service". www.fws.gov. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
  5. ↑ Harley, Stephen A. Miller, John P. (2002). Zoology (5th ed.). Boston [etc.]: McGraw-Hill. p.  28. ISBN   978-0070294110.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. 1 2 Allen, Greg (28 August 2019). "Trump Administration Opens Door To Dropping Florida's Key Deer From Endangered List". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  7. ↑ "What do Key Deer Eat". Save Our Key Deer. 2017-08-28. Retrieved 2023-08-05.
  8. ↑ "Key Deer". Friends of the Everglades. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
  9. ↑ "Key deer | mammal". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
  10. ↑ "Key Deer". Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
  11. ↑ "Key Deer Recovery Plan Amendment (2022): Frequently Asked Questions". U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  12. ↑ Tobias, Jimmy (March 2022). "How one of Florida's most beloved animals may be close to climate extinction". The Guardian.
  13. ↑ Thompson, Joanna (12 October 2023). "Assisted Migration Helps Animals Adapt to Climate Change". Sierra Magazine.
  14. ↑ Rott, Nathan; Kellman, Ryan (12 November 2023). "A tiny deer and rising seas: How far should people go to save an endangered species?". NPR.
  15. ↑ "Deadly fly larvae infests federally endangered Key deer population, more than 40 are euthanized". FLKeysNews.com. 2016-10-03. Retrieved 2016-11-01.
  16. ↑ "Attack of the flesh-eating screwworm pushes up Key deer death toll". Miami Herald. 2016-10-19. Retrieved 2016-11-01.
  17. ↑ "Healthy Key deer may be corralled to save herd". Miami Herald. 2016-10-31. Retrieved 2016-11-01.
  18. ↑ "Flesh-eating fly outbreak that infested rare Key deer is over, feds say". Miami Herald. 2017-04-12. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  19. ↑ Parker, Israel; Lopez, Roel; Silvy, Nova; Davis, Donald; Owen, Catherine (September 2011). "Long-Term Effectiveness of US 1 Crossing Project in Reducing Florida Key Deer Mortality". Wildlife Society Bulletin. 35 (3): 296–302. doi:10.1002/wsb.45. JSTOR   wildsocibull2011.35.3.296.
  20. ↑ "Key Deer Information". National Key Deer Refuge. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Retrieved February 5, 2019.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.