DMNS Diorama - Big Pine Key, Florida

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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-wall components by reacting with bacterial endotoxins. Photo credit @https://envirobites.org/.

These birds painted in the background appear to be Magnificent Frigatebirds (Fregata magnificens). The photos below are ones I took on a trip to the Galápagos Islands.



This large sea snail shell may be the remains of Aliger gigas, also known as the Queen Conch.

Turkey vultures (Cathartes aura), soaring in the background.

I'm not a botanist, but this shrub may be the seagrape, Coccoloba uvifera. It also is painted in the background (below).


Remains of horseshoe crabs and "scallops" (bivalve mollusks).

An endangered Key deer (Odocoileus virginianus clavium), the smallest subspecies of white-tailed deer. "The National Key Deer Refuge was established in 1957 to protect and preserve the national interest in Key deer and other wildlife resources in the Florida Keys."

Finally, there was an osprey (Pandion haliaetus), perched on a pine, looking for food.

There is a plaque noting the artists and designers for this diorama:


Kent Pendleton is known for hiding gnomes or elves in his backgrounds, but I didn't see any here.




Note: The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent positions, strategies or opinions of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

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