KSC-03pd0779

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - A lone wild pig travels the bank of a body of water near Kennedy Space Center. In the background is the 525-foot-high Vehicle Assembly Building. Not a native in the environment, the pigs are believed to be descendants from those brought to Florida by the early Spanish explorers. Without many predators other than human, the pigs have flourished in the surrounding environs, primarily the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which shares a boundary with the Center. The Wildlife Refuge encompasses 92,000 acres that are a habitat for more than 331 species of birds, 31 mammals, 117 fishes, and 65 amphibians and reptiles. The marshes and open water of the refuge provide wintering areas for 23 species of migratory waterfowl, as well as a year-round home for great blue herons, great egrets, wood storks, cormorants, brown pelicans and other species of marsh and shore birds, plus a variety of insects.