“…Melanism is an additional trait that evolved in dogs but was transferred back to wolves and coyotes through introgressive hybridization [13]. Although melanism is known to show an adaptive advantage maintained by balancing selection in gray wolf populations [14,15], coyote populations display a variable occurrence of melanistic and white coat colorations [16][17][18][19]. Although the evolutionary significance of the melanistic phenotype in coyotes remains yet to be documented, admixture and allele sharing among canids has been extensively documented [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27].…”
There is arguably no other North American species that better illustrates the complexities of the human-wildlife interface than the coyote. In this study, a melanistic coyote in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia was exhibiting unusually bold behaviors that included encounters with humans, domestic dogs, and attempts to enter homes. After tracking this coyote (nicknamed Carmine) across a highly urbanized landscape with participatory science, including at least 80 publicly reported sightings, he was captured and relocated to a wildlife sanctuary. Genome-wide analyses revealed 92.8% coyote ancestry, 1.7% gray wolf ancestry, and 5.5% domestic dog ancestry. The dog alleles in Carmine’s genome were estimated to have been acquired by his ancestors 14–29 years ago. Despite his bold behavior, Carmine did not carry any mutations known to shape hypersociability in canines. He did, however, carry a single copy of the dominant mutation responsible for his melanistic coat color. This detailed study of Carmine dispels common assumptions about the reticent coyote personality and the origins of behavior. His unusual bold behavior created a higher level of human-coyote interaction. He now serves as a public ambassador for human-wildlife coexistence, urging the global community to reconsider mythologies about wildlife and promote coexistence with them in landscapes significantly altered by human activity in our rapidly changing world.
“…Melanism is an additional trait that evolved in dogs but was transferred back to wolves and coyotes through introgressive hybridization [13]. Although melanism is known to show an adaptive advantage maintained by balancing selection in gray wolf populations [14,15], coyote populations display a variable occurrence of melanistic and white coat colorations [16][17][18][19]. Although the evolutionary significance of the melanistic phenotype in coyotes remains yet to be documented, admixture and allele sharing among canids has been extensively documented [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27].…”
There is arguably no other North American species that better illustrates the complexities of the human-wildlife interface than the coyote. In this study, a melanistic coyote in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia was exhibiting unusually bold behaviors that included encounters with humans, domestic dogs, and attempts to enter homes. After tracking this coyote (nicknamed Carmine) across a highly urbanized landscape with participatory science, including at least 80 publicly reported sightings, he was captured and relocated to a wildlife sanctuary. Genome-wide analyses revealed 92.8% coyote ancestry, 1.7% gray wolf ancestry, and 5.5% domestic dog ancestry. The dog alleles in Carmine’s genome were estimated to have been acquired by his ancestors 14–29 years ago. Despite his bold behavior, Carmine did not carry any mutations known to shape hypersociability in canines. He did, however, carry a single copy of the dominant mutation responsible for his melanistic coat color. This detailed study of Carmine dispels common assumptions about the reticent coyote personality and the origins of behavior. His unusual bold behavior created a higher level of human-coyote interaction. He now serves as a public ambassador for human-wildlife coexistence, urging the global community to reconsider mythologies about wildlife and promote coexistence with them in landscapes significantly altered by human activity in our rapidly changing world.
“…This anomaly is more often in mammals than the albinism and may be found in 20% of individuals in some populations (Caro 2005). The occurrence of melanistic individuals in mammal populations has been correlated with some environmental disturbances, such as deforestation and wildfires, and variation in vegetation structure, as tree density (Caudill & Caudill 2015). The persistence of melanism in some mammal populations indicates a benefit of this condition for the survival of these groups, being favorable mainly for the crypsis and thermoregulation of these animals (Ciurej et al 2019).…”
Section: Myrmecophagamentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The persistence of melanism in some mammal populations indicates a benefit of this condition for the survival of these groups, being favorable mainly for the crypsis and thermoregulation of these animals (Ciurej et al 2019). Indeed, dark coloration is presumed to have a positive correlation with darkened substrates, offering an adaptive advantage for camouflaging predators (e.g., Canis latrans [Caudill & Caudill 2015]) as well as prey (e.g., Peromyscus maniculatus [Majerus & Mundy 2003]) in forested habitats. However, in M. tridactyla, albinism and melanism seem to be occasional and uncommon cases in their populations.…”
Myrmecophaga tridactyla, the giant anteater, is a monospecific genus of anteater endemic to South and Central America. This species is marked by a predominantly brown or black coat, with anterolaterally elongated black and white stripes in its body and anterior black bands on its forelimbs. Chromatic variations are so far unknown for this species. Herein, we report and describe the first formal records of melanism and albinism in M. tridactyla and discuss the possible causes and environmental relationships of these color anomalies in the species.
“…Historical and current records demonstrate a consistent presence of melanism in Canis populations of temperate forests of the southeastern United States (hereafter Southeast) [ 19 – 25 ] (Figs. 1 and 2 ).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Currently, the melanistic phenotype is extinct within the extant red wolf population because only russet-colored individuals were included as founders for the captive population (USFWS, unpublished data). However, melanism occurs in contemporary coyote ( Canis latrans ) populations that replaced red wolves throughout the Southeast [ 22 , 24 , 25 ]. Fig.…”
Background
Gloger’s rule postulates that animals should be darker colored in warm and humid regions where dense vegetation and dark environments are common. Although rare in Canis populations, melanism in wolves is more common in North America than other regions globally and is believed to follow Gloger’s rule. In the temperate forests of the southeastern United States, historical records of red wolf (Canis rufus) and coyote (Canis latrans) populations document a consistent presence of melanism. Today, the melanistic phenotype is extinct in red wolves while occurring in coyotes and red wolf-coyote hybrids who occupy the red wolf's historical range. To assess if Gloger’s rule could explain the occurrence and maintenance of melanistic phenotypes in Canis taxa, we investigated differences in morphology, habitat selection, and survival associated with pelage color using body measurements, GPS tracking data, and long-term capture-mark-recapture and radio-telemetry data collected on coyotes and hybrids across the southeastern United States.
Results
We found no correlation between morphometrics and pelage color for Canis taxa. However, we observed that melanistic coyotes and hybrids experienced greater annual survival than did their gray conspecifics. Furthermore, we observed that melanistic coyotes maintained larger home ranges and exhibited greater selection for areas with dense canopy cover and wetlands than did gray coyotes.
Conclusions
In the southeastern United States, pelage color influenced habitat selection by coyotes and annual survival of coyotes and hybrids providing evidence that Gloger’s rule is applicable to canids inhabiting regions with dense canopy cover and wetlands. Greater annual survival rates observed in melanistic Canis may be attributed to better concealment in areas with dense canopy cover such as coastal bottomland forests. We suggest that the larger home range sizes of melanistic coyotes may reflect the trade-off of reduced foraging efficiency in lower quality wetland habitat for improved survival. Larger home ranges and differential use of land cover by melanistic coyotes may facilitate weak assortative mating in eastern coyote populations, in which melanistic animals may have lower success of finding compatible mates in comparison to gray conspecifics. We offer that our observations provide a partial explanation for why melanism is relatively low (< 10%) but consistent within coyote populations throughout southeastern parts of their range.
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