Black coyotes?

So I have trail cam pic after trail cam pic of coyotes that are pretty dang black. I'll get some pics of tan colored ones, but most are black.
Anyone have any idea? Below is a tan and black traveling together.

I finally shot one, and it was luck I guess. Off hand with my 9mm at 79 yards. When it dropped I didn't believe it myself, that red dot sight sure is nice.
This is just a pup, still has puppy teeth and actually has a white patch on it's chest.
Anyone know anything about why my coyotes are mainly black?

I dont know, but I am here to see what people have to say about it. Pretty cool

Melanism. It occurs in nature. Goggle for more details.

good pics

I'm surprised that it's a dominant trait though here on the ranch

same reason there are black wolves

Strangely, for the canids, it appears to "occur in nature" after crossbreeding with domestic dogs.
https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/35/5/1190/4913657

And while melanism may occur in nature, it does NOT occur in mountain lions.

I had a great uncle that spent 40+ years in the north of Alaska, saw lots of black wolves, maybe they crossed with run away sled dogs?

Cool looking yote.

I have seen a few black wolves in Alaska, think they are pretty common. Here is one I killed in 2016 (he was attacking a bear!)

btw, it is crazy to me that people want to protect these vicious critters. In my experience, they are the apex predator...and kill for sport..

i dont know , but i want one.

Cool looking Yote. I have also heard about the black coming from crossing with a dog, but Melanism does occur in a lot of different animals.

I vote melanistic.

About 30 years ago in east Williamson county saw one in a field for 2-3 days, it was with 2 others and it was much larger. Don't know if it was the same one I saw another time for a couple days about 4 miles as the crow flies from the first sighting. Never seen one again.

X2

Nice one. First coyote I ever trapped was black. From a distance i thought I had a black dog. But as I got closer I could see the difference. I was young when I caught it.

wow thats beautiful

Don't put that picture on the Texas Black Panther site or some people on there will claim that your picture is actually a black panther about to attack a grey coyote!!

Foxtrot shot one in a contest a few years back, it was pretty cool to see running off the hill at us. He has it mounted in his living room now. Maybe he can share the pic.

I do have one...not sure that I can post a pic. Lemme try

Roughly 70 yds with a shotgun in a yote tourney. Fun morning.

That cool as heck!

Really cool

I was lucky enough to kill three in one season at a friends place in Mississippi. I wish I had the forethought to get one of them mounted. I did skin one out and my daughter tanned the hide and hung it on the wall in her house. It's definitely a conversation starter. I did some research about them after seeing numerous trail cam pic and discovered they are fairly common, but not really. They are considered a trophy because of the relative scarceness.

A friend in the mountains of Virginia killed two a coupla' days ago.

Here's a black one mounted howling at my place.He's is from Mississippi though.

I killed a black Coyote about 15 yrs ago. Gave to my buddy and he had it mounted. Havent seen one since.
That 79 yard shot with a 9mm is pretty impressive,

I have called in 8 of them 3 were in Mississippi and 5 here in Texas. There are just Melanistic coyotes just like Melanistic squirrels but as DN mentioned it does not occur in Mountain Lions. I am not sure if there are Melanistic Sasquatch’s but next time I run into Darryl I will ask him.

These are the three I killed in Mississippi.

Saw one this weekend and my brain was confused long enough that it got away before I stopped the SxS

Never seen a completely black one (melanistic) on our property, but we do have some with very dark coats from time to time.

I've only seen 1 black coyote in my life (53 years) so that was cool.

Never seen one but I've heard about them, crazy to see this many on this thread.