Whether you are exploring the park by foot or bike, you have a very good chance to run across one of our favorite park inhabitants, the gopher tortoise.

A unique resident of North Key Largo is endemic, meaning that it is found in the wild only here and nowhere else in the world. A large portion of this area where the endangered Key Largo woodrat lives includes Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park.

In this installment of the Biologist Tells the Story series, you'll meet Maulik Patel, environmental specialist at Collier-Seminole State Park. His efforts managing the natural resources at the park include using prescribed fire, controlling invasive plants and animals, and controlling the flow of water through the park.

Who can you find scurrying among the sacred vegetation of the park’s coastal dunes? Why the endangered Anastasia Island Beach Mouse! Marked with a light buff colored back, pure white underparts, and indistinct white markings on their face, this adorable creature has become this park’s unofficial mascot.

It’s the state’s only endemic bird, which means the Florida scrub-jay is found nowhere else, and its need for a specific habitat is one reason why scrub-jay numbers are declining. The only bird species that requires a sandy, scrubby habitat to survive is the Florida scrub-jay.