Rich in AZ
New member
Hartley H.T. Jackson wrote in 1951 that 750,000 coyotes trapped by Government and co-operative trappers between 1938 and 1945 included 2 albinos. He then stated that he had heard of only one black coyote ever having been reported, that one was trapped in Colorado in the 1920s.
I have not been able to find documented reports of melanism in coyotes within their traditional ranges that did not overlap with redwolf ranges. Black coyotes are also reported in the states that expansionist populations have moved into within the last 35 years.
I have found a surprisingly large volume of predator studies that at least mentioned melanism in these canids.
Gipson, Halloran, Pimlott and Joslin, Freeman, Lawrence and Nowak all addressed this subject in depth.
Gipson et al., 1974 is probably the definitive work on coyote expansion within the southeastern US and their subsequent hybridization with other canids.
Statements from Gipson's dissertations that are significant to this subject include
"Black canids occur over much of the former range of the red wolf..."
"Black pelage, often accompanied by a white pectoral spot and white on the feet, occured among red wolves."Arthur, 1928, Yound and Goldman, 1944, Sealander, 1956, Riley and McBride, 1972
"In 1936 the biologist Black estimated that roughly 25% of the red wolves taken in the Ozarks in the 1930s were black."
Studies by Halloran, 1959 and 1963, and Pimlott and Joslin 1968, all reported black coyotes from or adjacent to, areas known to have been inhabited by melanistic red wolves, an/or dogs in recent times. Black pelage is common among domestic dogs and has been reported in coyote/dog crosses by Gier 1968 and Mengel 1971.
"Forty-three black canids were collected in Arkansas from 1968 through 1971. Twelve were considered to be coyotes, six were coyote X dog hybrids, five were coyote X red wolf hybrids, and one wild dog.
In 1976 Freeman identified twelve black canids collected in Oklahoma as eight coyotes, two coyote X dog hybrids and two coyote X red wolf hybrids.
A phenomenom that biologists call "hybrid swarm" has occurred when coyotes expand into an area that contains numbers of red wolves that are in decline and having difficulty finding a mate of their own species.. This is known to have occurred in Texas on the Edwards Plateau and spread eastward into east Texas and Louisiana.. It is known to have occurred in the Ozarks of Arkansas and spread eastward, into Tennesee and then down into Mississppi and Alabama.
Genes for melanism were probably passed to some hybrid offspring which , in turn, became a part of the gene pool of the present interbreeding genepool.
Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri and Arkansas all report black coyote sightings regularly and these areas are past ranges of the red wolf.
Coyote X dog hybrids and the occassional melanism that would occur is possibly a cause of the reports from northern Iowa, Minnesota and other fringe states that the coyote has expanded into in fairly recent times. The reports of black coyotes in Montana, Washington and Arizona, which are traditional ranges of the coyote are a puzzle.
I have not been able to find documented reports of melanism in coyotes within their traditional ranges that did not overlap with redwolf ranges. Black coyotes are also reported in the states that expansionist populations have moved into within the last 35 years.
I have found a surprisingly large volume of predator studies that at least mentioned melanism in these canids.
Gipson, Halloran, Pimlott and Joslin, Freeman, Lawrence and Nowak all addressed this subject in depth.
Gipson et al., 1974 is probably the definitive work on coyote expansion within the southeastern US and their subsequent hybridization with other canids.
Statements from Gipson's dissertations that are significant to this subject include
"Black canids occur over much of the former range of the red wolf..."
"Black pelage, often accompanied by a white pectoral spot and white on the feet, occured among red wolves."Arthur, 1928, Yound and Goldman, 1944, Sealander, 1956, Riley and McBride, 1972
"In 1936 the biologist Black estimated that roughly 25% of the red wolves taken in the Ozarks in the 1930s were black."
Studies by Halloran, 1959 and 1963, and Pimlott and Joslin 1968, all reported black coyotes from or adjacent to, areas known to have been inhabited by melanistic red wolves, an/or dogs in recent times. Black pelage is common among domestic dogs and has been reported in coyote/dog crosses by Gier 1968 and Mengel 1971.
"Forty-three black canids were collected in Arkansas from 1968 through 1971. Twelve were considered to be coyotes, six were coyote X dog hybrids, five were coyote X red wolf hybrids, and one wild dog.
In 1976 Freeman identified twelve black canids collected in Oklahoma as eight coyotes, two coyote X dog hybrids and two coyote X red wolf hybrids.
A phenomenom that biologists call "hybrid swarm" has occurred when coyotes expand into an area that contains numbers of red wolves that are in decline and having difficulty finding a mate of their own species.. This is known to have occurred in Texas on the Edwards Plateau and spread eastward into east Texas and Louisiana.. It is known to have occurred in the Ozarks of Arkansas and spread eastward, into Tennesee and then down into Mississppi and Alabama.
Genes for melanism were probably passed to some hybrid offspring which , in turn, became a part of the gene pool of the present interbreeding genepool.
Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri and Arkansas all report black coyote sightings regularly and these areas are past ranges of the red wolf.
Coyote X dog hybrids and the occassional melanism that would occur is possibly a cause of the reports from northern Iowa, Minnesota and other fringe states that the coyote has expanded into in fairly recent times. The reports of black coyotes in Montana, Washington and Arizona, which are traditional ranges of the coyote are a puzzle.
