A taxidermy of a white coyote from Newfoundland.
A recent genetic study of white coyotes in Newfoundland has revealed that their whiteness is actually the cream gene that entered the coyote gene pool from a tryst between a coyote and a cream-colored golden retriever in 2001.
The CBC reports:
Science researcher Carl Zimmer has written an article on the white coyotes in the current issue of the magazine.
Zimmer said he became interested in writing about the white coyote after he stumbled across a research paper in the January 2013 edition of the journal Mammalian Genome written by researchers at Memorial University and wildlife officials at Newfoundland and Labrador’s Department of Environment and Conservation.
Zimmer said the scientific paper described the DNA of six white coyotes — turned in by hunters to wildlife officials — and an interesting theory on the origin of the genetic mutation.
“This raises, I think, a very plausible possibility that the coyotes in Newfoundland got this gene from a golden retriever,” said Zimmer.
Zimmer pointed out that there were reports in Newfoundland that a coyote had run off with a golden retriever dog in 2001.
“It’s possible that that golden retriever produced hybrids that passed down its gene into the coyote population.”
Now if you listen to the audio interview on the site, the sequence of the gene is exactly the same as a golden retriever, and there was a golden retriever that was seen running around that area from 2001 to 2003 during coyote mating season.
This is the second time that a dog color has been confirmed to have been introduced into a wild canid through hybridization.
Black color in North American and Italian wolves and the black color in coyotes has been confirmed to have originated through crossing with black domestic dogs.
This is, however, the first time it has been traced to single dog breed and to a single individual.
Amazing, eh?
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Update: Nat Geo has a better piece on these coyotes than the CBC:
Marshall and her colleagues speculate that their snowy coyotes may also be the product of both genetic drift and natural selection. If a golden retriever did indeed consort with a coyote in 2001, it did so at a time when there were still very few coyotes on Newfoundland. That would have meant that from the start, coyotes with the Mc1r variant made up a relatively large percentage of the coyote population. When the population exploded, the white variant might have exploded too. Nevertheless, the pattern of mutations in the white-fur gene hint that natural selection has been acting on the white coyotes as well.
It doesn’t say what color the golden retriever was, but my guess is it had to have been a pale golden one.
There are a lot of golden retrievers that are this very color.
Always wondered why Cote used to run with the coyotes in the Black Hills. There are many husky wolve crosses that would come down from the hills as I walked my goldens. Good thing that the dogs have a good bark and teeth that scared the wolf crosses away. Scary but I got a mace gun just in case :)
Thanks Scottie for the friendship. Going to come down and do some research in WV and check out Marshall college for my daughter Sapphire :) I guess working for YCC and the Nebraska parks and games was good as a teenager. You learn to appreciate thing in Nature :) Blue Cube Women :)
Not all Goldens carry the genetic factor that makes yellow dogs into “cream” or “white” (and it is the same factor that makes white German Shepherds, Kuvasz, and a number of other breeds).But if the wayward Golden carried that factor, ’tis possible. I expect there are other possibilities as well. (Did the researchers find any other gene sequences characteristic of Goldens?)
And just try telling a breeder of cream Golden Retrievers that their dogs are “white”. . .
If you listen to the interview there was a “white” golden retriever roaming the countryside. It’s a pretty common dog.
The best way to show a white one isn’t white is to get it wet and put it in the sunlight. You’ll see yellow.
That must make for a conflicted coyote…..tear prey apart or lick them and play with them, tail wagging.
My own experience is that even the nicest golden retriever hates coyotes. Miley considers them Untermenschen of the worst sort, and she affords them none of the courtesy she gives to other dogs.
And the truth is that my own sweet Golden loves people but if she comes across a mean dog, she will become agitated and combative, which always amazes me.
Miley actually pinned a black German shepherd that attacked her. It had her down for a few seconds, and that was just enough to make her explode.
Does it get any better than a fabulous loving dog that can also take care of business when necessary. How much does Miley weigh?
78 pounds.
Pumpkin weighs in at 86 lbs. Big girl.
Very interesting, I wonder if the trait will survive? Afetr all white may be good in the winter!
Re dogs and coyotes, what I’ve read seems to suggest coyotes will predate on same size and smaller dogs but I suspect a single coyote and a larger dog like a retriever would be ok as the retriever would be too big to attack! I’m sure some coyotes would ect but clearly not in this case. I wonde rif the same thign is true with wolf/dog crosse sin the wild? E;G the wolf eats the smaller feral dogs but breeds with the larger ones thata re too big to eat!
I wonder what hapened to the retriever? Was it a stray that lived wild with its coyote mate, I know coyotes seem to require a mate to help raise their pups, or was it just a pet dog that liked to hea dover to the wild side!
Adam
Yes indeed Scottie!
http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/21/snow-coyotes-and-spirit-bears/ Nat Geo has a better piece than the CBC. The golden retriever was out running in 2001. They can’t figure out why it would make the coyotes white, but if the golden retriever happened to have been a “white” one, it would make a lot more sense.
This is amazing. We recently adopted a “white” GS/husky cross. She appears to have that same gene, she is a bit golden on the ear tips and has an almost white pale gold dusting her back. I must get one of those mutt dna tests on her. What do you think of those?
White GSD’s are the same color as white golden retrievers, as are Samoyeds, white poodles, and Westies. Many white GSD have yellow pigment, though not all do and not all Samoyeds do either. White poodles and Westies have no yellow on them at all.
Those multi breed tests are a waste of money. They don’t sample enough markers and they almost always say a dog is part some impossible breed like a Braque du Burbonnais or a Grand bleu de Gascogne.
Do you have any references for white genes as opposed to ‘golden’ or ‘yellow’ that runs to ‘cream’? Is it likely that there are white Labradors that are actually genetically distinct from the ‘cream’ colored yellows? (If so, it’s amusing that there’s all this fuss about silvers and no one bats an eyelid about grouping whites with yellows).
It’s just a variant on the chinchilla allele. http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/usdagen/mult_alleles.html
White labs aren’t really white, nor are golden retrievers really white.
Hi folks,
The way I understand it golden retrievers are basically dominant black, but there is a recessive mutation which prevents melanin from being expressed in the normal manner therefore rendering the coat color golden.
That said, we can then deduce that not only did the initial coyote x golden retriever cross on Newfoundland introduce the recessive gene for golden coat color, there would have been a fresh introduction of the dominant black gene from golden retrievers to coyotes as well. The first generation coyote cross pups would all have been black.
The reason the coyote in the picture is so pale is because the golden gene is overriding the color of the wild coyote, not the black ground color of the golden retriever. In the golden retriever the golden gene overrides what is otherwise a solid black coat which accounts for the deeper golden color of the retriever.
The thing I would like to know is how did the coyotes make it to Newfoundland from the mainland in the first place?
Not all golden retrievers are e/e masking dominant black. There are sables (including black and tans) and brindles, too.
If the golden retriever had been a sable, then you wouldn’t get black coydogs. https://retrieverman.net/2011/03/07/dark-sable-golden-retrieverrough-collie-cross/
Whether a golden retriever is a dominant black or not has nothing to do with the intensity of the dog’s color.
Here’s a good way to prove that false: Most yellow Labs are dominant blacks with e/e masking it, but they are almost always lighter in color than golden retrievers are.
I’ve heard that time and again, and it’s simply false. There is another modifier that makes the golden retriever darker or lighter in color.
There may be another modifier in coyotes, but I’m very skeptical. There actually are gold-colored coyotes, that probably get their gold color from a very similar source:
Coyotes got to Newfoundland by walking across the frozen Strait of Belle Isle. They are also on Prince Edward Island.
Our newest family member, Maggie, has that same sabling on her back but is merle on her forequarters, head and legs (one toe on a back foot is white). She looks to be Aussie Shepherd x Golden Retriever, but looks can be deceiving. We’re just assuming Curbstone Setter/Heinz 57.
More white coyotes?
Nope. “White” dingoes.
Wow! I once, many years ago, foolishly failed to stop two sibling soft coated wheaten terriers from mating and all six pups were virtually white..! Both parents were a typical “shade of ripening wheat” as per the breed standard, so recessives at play there, obviously.
[…] One wonders if its coloration came from a dog– perhaps the same source as these white coyotes in Newfoundland. […]
The golden coyote looks a lot like the golden color you see in dingos.
[…] the coyote gene pool from a tryst between a coyote and a cream-colored golden retriever in 2001. Read more, click here. Go to […]
[…] Newfoundland white coyotes are part golden retriever (retrieverman.net) […]
Just saw your post today, and I got a coyote from that area that has the same features. Pretty neat that it might have golden retriever in it!. http://cynpeterson.tumblr.com/post/91562182261/just-learned-today-from-thebeautyinallthings-that
I guess that comment did make it through, whoops.
Just saw your post today! I got a coyote from the same area with the same features. Pretty neat that it might have golden retriever in it! It’s kinda hard to tell because of how glossy the fur is, but it has a cream streak all the way down the back. http://cynpeterson.tumblr.com/post/91562182261/just-learned-today-from-thebeautyinallthings-that