DMNS Diorama - Big Pine Key, Florida
Big Pine Key is one of larger islands of the Florida Keys, and home to the National Key Deer Refuge . This diorama is located in James Hall on the third floor of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. As with many dioramas, the focus is on a few species, but there is more to see. The foci of the diorama are the Great White Heron (a white subspecies of the Great Blue Heron ), American Crocodiles (as opposed to American Alligators ), the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake , and the Tricolored Heron , with the rattlesnake and the crocodile locked in a lethal embrace. As with many dioramas, there is more to be seen than just the featured species. Here's what I found, aside from the herons, crocodile, and snake: Horseshoe crab . Most people don't recognize the importance of this animal to both birds (particularly the Red Knot) and humans. Horseshoe crab blood being harvested to extract Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL),a reagent that detects bacterial and fungal cell-...