Admit it: if you're an American college student reading this website, you're going to the Florida Keys for spring break. Well, before you pack up, you'd better sit right down and let me learn you a little about the local ecology. The cute li'l bugger you see above is a Key Deer; they're the smallest white-tailed deer in North America, and they live only in the Florida Keys - more specifically, on 6,000-acre Big Pine   Key and on a few of the surrounding smaller islands (but only the ones with natural fresh water). The population of Key Deer dropped down into the double digits during the 1940s, but has since risen to about 300 with the institution of several wildlife preserves in the area. This leads me to the conclusion that the current population is more than a little inbred. But it probably just makes 'em even more aboradle. (Awww, underbite!) So, next time you're drunkenly careening down US-1 in your best bud's hot new Land Rover, I beg you: please, think of the cute li'l fuzzies. CC

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