Melanistic maned wolf photographed by trail camera in Minas Gerais, Brazil

October 16, 2015 by retrieverman

Unlike the melanism seen in wolves and coyotes, we know that this coloration didn’t originate from crossing with domestic dogs.

But it’s such a cool animal!

on October 17, 2015 at 3:39 am dorothea penizek

I am thoroughly enjoying your blog!
Thank you!
on October 17, 2015 at 1:24 pm massugu

Neat!
on October 17, 2015 at 9:44 pm kittenz

I say we don’t know FOR SURE that the black coloration seen in North American wolves necessarily originated in domestic dogs. Melanism occurs with varying regularity in many wild canids. The melanism could just as easily have arisen in wild wolves and then entered the dog population. After all, it had to come from SOMEWHERE. And if we posit that the dog is the domesticated form of the wolf, alleles for melanism have probably been passed back and forth between wild, semi-domestic, and domestic wolves many times over the millennia.
- on October 17, 2015 at 10:01 pm retrieverman
  
  Actually, in this case, we do know for sure.
- on October 17, 2015 at 10:06 pm retrieverman
  
  In New World and Italian wolves, we do know it came from dogs through measuring the mutation rate. The trait is oldest in dogs. Now there are weird recessive blacks that have popped up in Old World wolves before, but this is dominant black, and that’s the color that’s in wolves and coyotes here and in wolves in Italy.