Colonel Smith erroneously believed that the so-called "Rossomak" of the Lenas in Siberia was of the same variety. Black wolves were also reported in Siberia as the Vekvoturian Mountain-wolf. They also occurred in the mountains of Friuli ( Italy) and around Kotor ( Montenegro). Black wolves were considered rare in France, but common in Southern Europe at the time, with black wolf populations south to the Pyrenees apparently outnumbering other colour morphs. Cuvier and other naturalists largely followed his example. Linnaeus gave the black wolves of Europe the binomial name Canis lycaon, under the assumption that the species was distinct from grey- and white-coloured wolves. Besides coat and knee colour, they are normal grey wolves.Įarly encounters and speculation Europe Genetic research from the Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of California, Los Angeles revealed that wolves with black pelts owe their distinctive coloration to a mutation which occurred in domestic dogs, and was carried to wolves through wolf-dog hybridization. Black specimens were recorded among red wolves ( Canis rufus), though the colour morph in this species is probably now extinct. The function of the black pigment is largely unknown.Ī black wolf is a melanistic colour variant of the gray wolf ( Canis lupus). (photo taken in Yellowstone National Park) Illustration of a "European black wolf" by Charles Hamilton Smith An illustration of an "American black wolf" by John James Audubon An engraving of a "dusky wolf", an animal once considered a separate species from northern black wolves Skin of a black-coloured wolf taken from the Mackenzie Valley. A picture of a black wolf taken on a road in Valley County, Idaho, United States Genetic research has shown that black-furred wolves owe their coloration to a mutation that first arose in domestic dogs. For other uses, see Black Wolf (disambiguation).
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