Black coyotes and wolves get their black coloration from a gene that first originated in domestic dogs or (most likely) “camp wolves.“
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Black coyote
September 8, 2010 by retrieverman
4 Responses
So sad to watch – saw it on youtube.
And he barks just like a dog!
Beautiful too – like a silver tipped black. Like a silver fox.
I feel sorry for him. Living beings should be killed quickly and painlessly IF they have to die. I hate to think how he must have felt, how frightened he was caught in a leg trap like that.
Scottie have you seen any research done on how recently the black coloration was introduced to the coyote population?
I know it has occured in wolves for many thousands of years, but it’s so maladaptive for coyotes (originally a prairie species) that I would expect the coloration to have died out if it was introduced before they extended their range into forested areas.
My dog is the same coloration as these black coyotes and even at night I can see him in the grass plain as day so to speak, but conversly I’ve had coyotes barking at me from just a hundred feet away and couldn’t spy them (had trouble pinpointing the sound) in the middle of the day, the grey ones are comoflaged that well!
The study on black wolves included black coyotes:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/science/06wolves.html
Thanks,
I didn’t have access to the full paper; guess I have to go to the library.