Mammals

NPS

Monocacy National Battlefield provides an excellent habitat for a wide variety of mammal species. A total of 34 different species have been known to inhabit the park. Most of the species that utilize the park’s resources are small, such as the short-tailed shrew, the woodland vole, the muskrat, the southern bog lemming, the meadow jumping mouse, and the hairy-tailed mole. Most of these small mammals are rarely seen because they live underground in small burrows.

Other small mammals such as eastern chipmunk and the gray squirrel are more commonly seen by visitors of the park. You may even be lucky enough to see the southern flying squirrel, which is the only nocturnal squirrel of its kind, and can retain flight for up to 80 yards.

There are also several medium-sized mammals found in the park, including the red fox, the raccoon, the striped skunk, and the groundhog. You may also see the mink, a semi aquatic carnivore whose tail constitutes 1/3 of its entire length and is an excellent swimmer.

The larger mammal species found in the park include black bear, white-tailed deer, and coyotes. While black bears are rarely spotted, and usually are only passing through, white-tailed deer are found in abundance. The rising population of deer has an intense affect on the herbaceous and woody plants found within the park. Several studies have been conducted on the effects of the overpopulation of deer in the park.

A list of species that can be found on Monocacy National Battlefield is available below using the NPS Species Search Engine.

 

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Species Attribute Definitions

Definitions

Occurrence

Occurrence values are defined below. One or more Occurrence Tags may be associated with each Occurrence value.

Present: Species occurs in park; current, reliable evidence available.

Probably Present: High confidence species occurs in park but current, verified evidence needed.

Unconfirmed: Species is attributed to park but evidence is weak or absent.

Not In Park: Species is not known to occur in park.

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Occurrence Tags

Adjacent: Species is known to occur in areas near to or contiguous with park boundaries.

False Report: Species was reported to occur within the park, but current evidence indicates the report was based on misidentification, a taxonomic concept no longer accepted, or other similar problem of error or interpretation.

Historical: Species' historical occurrence in park is documented. Assigned based on judgment as opposed to determination based on age of the most recent evidence.

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Abundance

Abundant:

• Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, and counted in relatively large numbers.
• Plants: Large number of individuals; wide ecological amplitude or occurring in habitats covering a large portion of the park.

Common:

• Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, but not in large numbers.
• Plants: Large numbers of individuals predictably occurring in commonly encountered habitats but not those covering a large portion of the park.

Uncommon:

• Animals: Likely to be seen monthly in appropriate habitat and season. May be locally common.
• Plants: Few to moderate numbers of individuals; occurring either sporadically in commonly encountered habitats or in uncommon habitats.

Rare:

• Animals: Present, but usually seen only a few times each year.
• Plants: Few individuals, usually restricted to small areas of rare habitat.

Occasional:

• Animals: Occurs in the park at least once every few years, varying in numbers, but not necessarily every year.
• Plants: Abundance variable from year to year (e.g., desert plants).

Unknown: Abundance unknown

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Nativeness

Native: Species naturally occurs in park or region.

Non-native: Species occurs on park lands as a result of deliberate or accidental human activities.

Unknown: Nativeness status is unknown or ambiguous.

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List Differences

The Checklist contains only those species that are designated as "present" or "probably present" in the park.

The Full List includes all the checklist species in addition to species that are unconfirmed, historically detected, or incorrectly reported as being found in the park. The full list also contains species that are "in review" because their status in the park hasn't been fully determined. Additional details about the status of each species is included in the full list.

The checklist will almost always contain fewer species than the full list.

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Monocacy National Battlefield

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Species attribute definitions

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