Largest Native Baltimore Animal?

Submitted by confidence_interval t3_y8xb63 in baltimore

This is a weird question - what's the largest native Baltimore animal (that's not domesticated)? I'm an early riser and I've seen foxes around Hampden and Clifton Park. Are these the largest animals you'll find roaming around Baltimore? That's what really got me thinking about this question.

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butipreferlottie t1_it2arh8 wrote

I've seen recently dead deer on the Stoney Run trail once or twice, so presumably there's a live population around somewhere.

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danhalka t1_it2asum wrote

Whitetail, I'd think.

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Jack_Ash_ t1_it2bcgr wrote

The croc hooved stoop sloth

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codyvir t1_it2bg75 wrote

There are plenty of white tail deer in the parks and on the edges of the city. They mowed down my hostas months ago.

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Quantius t1_it2cduu wrote

Believe it or not, rat.

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scartonbot t1_it2dkab wrote

Coyotes are moving in. My wife spotted one in the woods behind the seminary in Roland Park.

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Unusual-Thanks-2959 t1_it2euhl wrote

Deer, there was a black bear at the beltway and 95 around Arbutus a few years ago, coyotes are also statewide now.

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SaveFailsafe t1_it2f2zb wrote

Dolphin if you count the harbor. Black bear have been seen in Towson. Rare sightings both.

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darthgeek t1_it2f3mj wrote

Something something your average Baltimoron.

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winnower8 t1_it2f5kp wrote

Deer in Druid Hill Park are a big problem around the Zoo and around the community garden. You'll see them anytime, but in the evening they are most active. The Zoo wants to allow hunting because the wild animals shouldn't be near the zoo animals for fear of bringing in disease and upsetting the animals. The community garden has their vegetables eaten by the deer. If you drive at night though the park you should see them.

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wookiee_borg t1_it2gwl9 wrote

For the area, I would say black bears, but they usually don’t get into the city proper. Quick google says they’ve been seen in Towson and Owings Mills in the last couple years, so theoretically they could wander into the city, but they certainly don’t live here. But you don’t need to go very far west or north from the city line to get a nonzero chance of seeing a bear.

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cakesie1108 t1_it2hvky wrote

The bulls that occasionally escape from the slaughterhouse or trucks in West Baltimore.

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messmaker523 t1_it2nj3o wrote

The obese white trash in Baltimore county

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TheBananaStan t1_it2otti wrote

Probably deer

If you drive a few hours south/out of state you can see Moth Man

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DownyOcean t1_it2s8ej wrote

A 350 pound bear was hit and killed on the JFX a couple of years ago. There’s coyotes in Wyman Park.

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Willerundi t1_it2t455 wrote

Did they ever catch all the zebras? Not in the city, I know, but I didn't hear that they did.

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acurrell t1_it2u9sq wrote

I've seen some pretty big hawks, especially up by the Jones Falls by Bolton Hill.

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NotSomeTokenBunny t1_it2uvxz wrote

Pretty Boy Reservoir is owned by the city so, in theory, part of the city. There are definitely bears there and there have been several possible mountain lion sightings.

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bokah_chimpin t1_it2vrmt wrote

I saw an unusually large Karen making mating calls in the Walmart parking lot

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shepard_5 t1_it2w570 wrote

I don’t know how far east they came, 1700s and earlier Buffalo roamed western Maryland

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Slime__queen t1_it2xi3o wrote

That would be the Big Ass Baltimore Rat (tm)

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catbirdbutt t1_it30p8t wrote

Several years ago a deer almost hit me in Hampden. Late at night I was walking up Roland just past Union and a large buck (antlers and all) ran across the street then jumped over the fence and into the yard of the house I was passing. It stopped and we stared at each other for a moment. It was kind of magic. https://imgur.com/a/Ufn51kk

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Juice_Almighty t1_it313aq wrote

There are black bears in the area and people are always shocked even in other parts of the state

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guidomojo t1_it328n2 wrote

I've seen a 200LB 6 point buck in Roland Park before, edge of the city but still the city.

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nameisinusetryagain t1_it35o2l wrote

We have deer, black bear a little further out, and definitely coyotes with city limits. Not wandering the streets downtown, but I know that coyotes are in Lake Roland Park.

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ian_OhNO t1_it36sgt wrote

Replying to winnower8 (#152,905)

There are a few meadows deep in the woods in Druid hill park where they go to congregate and sleep at night. I found this area randomly hiking around it was quite fascinating it looked like a hundred deer was there the night before

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thunder-bug- t1_it370jx wrote

If we count the harbor? Sturgeon. But they don’t go there anymore.

So the biggest one that’s still here is black bears I think.

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Ocean2731 t1_it3gkdj wrote

Black rat snakes can get up to 7 feet long. Not the largest by weight, but a big one is darn impressive.

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DownyOcean t1_it3pjjf wrote

Replying to Lepidopteria (#155,504)

I just thought it was interesting. A lot of people didn’t know about the Coyotes in Wyman Park. I didn’t know about it until one chewed out 30 pound cat up. I was talking to a DNR guy who told me they are in every county in MD and Wyman Park in the City.

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iamculby t1_it3sln0 wrote

Probably the rats in Fells that eat chicken wings and pizza crusts.

In all seriousness, probably deer

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Murrylend t1_it43gzy wrote

Historically, there were still bison out here when Europeans first settled the area.

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Adventurous_Money_81 t1_it443ir wrote

The North American Calais Cambell has recently been sighted in the greater Baltimore city area. The onlooker estimated to be 6’8” 300 lbs.

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STrRedWolf t1_it489lr wrote

For prey animals, deer by far. Even MARC/Amtrak have run over one near West Baltimore in years past.

For predators? Probably coyotes and maybe a wolf. There have been press reports of them interbreeding into coyolves (their coinage, not mine).

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DarthBlart69 t1_it4qqq9 wrote

Deer probably the biggest. Have seen some massive rats before and remember a few years back that there were some coyote sightings in the county where my father lived off York Road.

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earnestlikehemingway t1_it4rrao wrote

The Chesapeake Bay record is a blue catfish caught in the James River that was 102 pounds. Wiki says they can be up to 150.

Female white tail deer can weigh 100 and males during the summer up to 159

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CeliMaru21 t1_it4sckd wrote

Speaking of foxes, I spotted them at Patterson Park, and even all the way in Fells by Living Classroom

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magictheblathering t1_it4ydmj wrote

Probably deer but we’ve been known to have a Bull on the loose here and there.

Bears live in Maryland but probably not in the city and if there are it’s probably by itself and unlikely to remain uncaptured for long.

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Scrilla_Gorilla_ t1_it51qoa wrote

Replying to scartonbot (#158,988)

The first one I saw was two years ago and was completely mangy. It was in the parking lot back behind the new Wawa on Joppa, sort of near that secret path that connects it to the old Big Screen Store shopping center. They were doing some construction behind that business park at the time and I parked there to eat my lunch. I couldn’t even tell it was a coyote at first, looked so bad, I actually got out because I thought it was a hurt dog. Then I got a little closer and realized what I was looking at. Snapped a couple pics and then called animal control, who had already been notified. It scampered off back into the woods before anyone showed up though.

I figured that was a one of, dying animal leaving its normal area. But nope, same spot I saw a completely healthy guy scavenging some trash just a few months ago. North of Cromwell bridge all the way up to the reservoir is mostly wooded, so it’s not a big surprise. They do pretty well in the rural/suburb area like that, they aren’t too scared of people to my experience. It makes me worried though, coyotes got one of my sisters cats out in Michigan. Hopefully in this area nobody has outdoor cats anymore these days though.

And the beltway goes over Cromwell and Loch Raven, so they’d have no trouble at all getting south to the city from there.

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shot_in_the_arm t1_it5am80 wrote

Native? Native range for elk came VERY close to Baltimore. Not unreasonable to believe a few wandered into the area. Animals around now? White-tailed deer for sure.

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Obasan123 t1_it5hdk3 wrote

Closest I have seen a bear in this area was on 295 headed south near where Arundel Mills is now. When they first built it, they disturbed a lot of bear habitat. During the pandemic, there were bears very close to here north of the city but I didn't see them personally. I have seen whitetail deer in West Baltimore off of Frederick Avenue/Frederick Road. And there are foxes in my neighborhood now, just north of Northern Parkway on Park Heights.

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TerranceBaggz t1_it5xlpt wrote

Deer I’d imagine. Plenty of them in Druid Park.

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TerranceBaggz t1_it5xv44 wrote

In 2020 a gator was filmed in the water by living classrooms at Central avenue. But I think it was a young one.

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TerranceBaggz t1_it5y1m9 wrote

Replying to butipreferlottie (#152,564)

Go through Druid hill park around dusk, you’ll see deer. The last 3 times I’ve biked through it I’ve seen a number of them. Got really close to a foal last time. Saw about 10-12 total the last time too.

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wookiee_borg t1_it7870i wrote

Replying to ScootyHoofdorp (#164,163)

Well, it isn’t really ‘normal’, I’m talking about one or two individuals per year, and it usually makes the news so they can remind people to stay away. They’re probably just expanding their territory to find food before hibernation or something. But then again I have no idea what kind of territory bears usually have. There’s lots of quiet wooded places north and west of the city, it wouldn’t surprise me if some of those had a few year-round. Last year there was one in Kingsville, which is almost to 95 NE of the city.

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megalomike t1_it7izxn wrote

Theorhetically the atlantic sturgeon but its probably been a while.

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S-Kunst t1_it7qc85 wrote

I have come face to face with a long legged fox and coyote in Bolton hill, at night.

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im_yer_daddy410 t1_itq794e wrote

The West Side native Rat is by far the largest indigenous species to Baltimore. Next is the East Side native Rat. Doesn’t grow as large as it’s cousin the West Side rat but still grows to a unpleasant size. There was an article written about how territorial these rats are. I think the Baltimore Sun put out the article about 10+ years ago

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