Coyotes are the most common large predator in the United States.
With populations everywhere from Yellowstone National Park to Central Park in New York City, they are highly adaptable creatures.
In fact, the Navajo people have a tradition that coyotes would be the last animal on Earth.
Black (melanistic) coyotes are super rare and we have an exclusive video of one sent to us by our friend and research partner Todd Jurasek.
He has been getting some incredible trail camera videos of bears and bobcats in southern Oklahoma.
Now, he sends us this beautiful, black coyote in broad daylight.
Melanism (think reverse of albinism) is present in many animals including canids.
With recent evidence showing red wolf DNA in coyote-like canids on the Texas Coast, it would be interesting to have a DNA sample from this black one.
The red wolf which was native from Texas/Oklahoma to the eastern seaboard had a subspecies called the “black wolf”. It was later called the Floria black wolf and was believed to be a long-extinct subspecies of red wolf.
In fact, black wolf was a term commonly used throughout the South for what is now known as the red wolf due to the presence of black individuals.
I have a copy of the 1946-47 Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Biennial Report that goes into detail about wolves in the Bayou State.
Under the headline “Predator Control” the following information is given.
“The Legislature of 1946 increased hunting license fees to $2.00. Twenty five percent of these funds (the increase) were dedicated to predator control.”
Interestingly, the article shows the above photo of a predator control officer with a dead “black wolf”.
The red was declared extinct in the wild in 1980 due to hybridization with coyotes.
Whatever this particular coyote’s genetic heritage, it is a strikingly beautiful animal and we are grateful to Todd Jurasek for sharing it with us.
Do you have videos or photos of black coyotes or other wild canids? If so, email them to chester@chestermoore.com.
Chester Moore
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