https://nywolf.org/about-the-wcc/about-us/
I would say the researchers may be a little bias in their research. I just see black coyotes as a color phase and if caused by interbreeding, the domesticated dog is the culprit.

Melanistic red wolf shown in a foot-hold trap in Winn Parish, Louisiana, 1948. Photo courtesy of T.E. “Doc” Harris family.

Some interesting information about coyotes, red wolf and Florida black wolf concerning Louisiana.

Louisiana had two distinct species of wolf before WW I. There was the Red Wolf and in the Florida Parishes, the Florida Black Wolf.

Before the big timber was cut in east Texas, the coyote was extremely rare in that part of Texas, but it was full of red wolf. Between the big timber being cut and bounties being put on the head of the red wolf, they were cleaned out. The coyotes moved in. This is historical fact.

The coyote was unheard of in Louisiana until the big timber in central and north Louisiana was cut. The more preferred red wolf habitat cleared and bounties on the heads of the red wolf caused its decline. The large coyote population of Texas moved in. The state actually had red wolf trappers well into the 1940's. These trappers noticed that over time what was considered the traditional red wolf was disappearing and coyotes became abundant. They also noticed that the crossbreeds were becoming common place. The trappers actually reported this to the state saying that the red wolf was quickly disappearing and something had to be done. Some of the trappers, risking their jobs, actually took it on their own to release actual red wolves they trapped into the remote regions of central and north Louisiana.

Just a couple of years ago a "coydog" was captured on a Gulf Coast island and its DNA make up was more red wolf than coyote. A retired game warden friend of mine who is a expert on every animal in Louisiana stated that one one particular island there were "coydogs" which were bigger than coyotes and some were black. He also told me about a study and they found that the black coyotes in Louisiana were found more in the thickets and heavy cover, and their natural survival rate was higher than a normal colored coyote.

My personal thoughts...The genes of the real red wolf and Florida black wolf still float around in the coyotes of Louisiana. Due to the genetic roll of the dice it sometimes shows up and with the data from research, its going to show up more due to the survival rate of the melanistic canine.

Thanks for posting that Gunny...good info.

Dan Flores has a book called American Coyote. He goes into the details of red wolves and dogs breeding with coyotes. He also touches on the "no hybrids in the west" story. We don't have reds, only greys and grey wolves and coyotes don't get a long. DNA evidence shows the red wolf hybrid and many captive studies show the success. In fact they dont think there are any pure breed redwolves left and there may not have been pure breed red wolves for thousands of years. They all have coyote DNA. For the grey wolf/coyote, its completely different. They couldnt put a coyote and grey wolf in the same pen with out the wolf killing the coyote. When ever they did artificial insemination of a grey wolves and coyotes (male wolf to female coyote and male coyote to female wolf), the female would kill the pups shortly after they were born. Coyotes and grey wolves have a natural intolerance for each other. Something that goes back in their genetic makeup.

I still say if it smells like a coyote, looks like a coyote, walks like a coyote, acts like a coyote, well you figure the rest out! They were red wolves in the south and brush wolves in the north back in the day.

I think Larry Kline, where is he anyway, spoke over 20 years ago at groups trying to list black coyotes as their own subspecies. Since they are 'rare' of course you would have to put protections in place to ensure their survival, critical habitat protections and all the rest. Don't even have to turn your wolfer nation hat around backwards to figure out what all of this crap is really about.

You are correct J.

If those "researchers" discover a certified and legally accepted red wolf in the wild....lookout! Lawsuits in every southern state will follow to stop coyote trapping. It will be a turd show. Thank goodness for mixed DNA and the nature of those lowly coyotes.

Color phase.

I've never seen a black yote in South Dakota. Ours are almost always the usual tawny color, with a few red and pale tints thrown in. I've also never seen a "German Shepard" phase that I've seen in photos on here from the East and down South. I don't know what those things are but we don't have them. And I think Chancey mentioned the Rio Grande valley trailer park canines. We have the same thing going on on the reservations and even though I don't get out around those areas much anymore, I've never heard of West River or Missouri Valley hunters or trappers nailing coydogs out there all that much-- other South Dakota guys can chime in on that if they have.

The Great Plains Zoo in Sioux Falls has had a red wolf exhibit for several decades at least. I haven't been to the zoo for a while but the last ones I've seen there, if placed against a South Dakota coyote, most people (and sorry I didn't smell their urine, maybe next time) would say they are different critters, both wild canines, but different. The supposed Canis rufus was a larger animal and heavier framed. The Great Plains Zoo "red wolves" have sent pups to a number of different zoos so they are well known among people trying to keep the species around.

As for published journal papers (and the link was not such a article but talked about a peer-reviewed article), I know that there are some tman people involved in peer-reviewed literature, both as authors and reviewers (a person tends to get more review offers the more they publish.) Peer-review is like any other human construct, it has its good points as well as its bad points. As an author, when you submit a manuscript, its really sort of a crap shoot because you typically have no idea who will review your paper. An author typically tries to "reconcile" the reviewers' comments with revisions. However, authors can also push back and make arguments on why the comment/suggest(s) are incorrect and make their case on why they won't "reconcile" that particular comment or suggestion. It is then up to the editor handling that manuscript on what to accept. As a reviewer, I seldom have rejected manuscripts out of hand, unless they are truly awful, but I also have rarely, if ever, accepted one "as is." I believe if people have done the work and make their case, they should get published, although I don't think I've ever reviewed a manuscript that some public policy should be framed around. There are those out there that do "advocacy science" and many more of the more prestigious journals out there that have "gatekeepers" who help decide what manuscript goes out for review and what ones don't. The journals/publishing companies don't typically call them "gatekeepers" but in around about way brag about it by saying" we only publish 10% (or less) of the manuscripts submitted to us!!" A self-fulfilling feed back loop is then generated by researchers who want to be heroes by saying they got published in Science or Nature because so few papers submitted there are published. There are also way more journals out there now than say 30 years ago because the Rest of World has decided to break open the European-dominated peer-review publishing cartel located mostly in the Netherlands and the UK. More journals can be both a good and bad thing, like anything else. In the end, the publishing companies in the peer-review literature make money in one form or another, they are businesses after all. That doesn't mean all such journal articles are crap but it also doesn't mean that all journal articles are as pure as fresh fallen snow. Science is a human construct and there's not a 100% pure form of human activity out there. So it goes.

I understand 100% completely why we need to be guarded on this subject. As Jtrapper, Swampwolf, and many others have posted, one idiot liberal judge could ban coyote hunting/trapping across the south if there is word of wolf DNA around here. I understand this stance and have been there a long time, but not looking at all the facts and ignoring the slap in your face stuff only makes us look like idiots; and it dang sure don't help our fight in regards to our role as conservationists.

This is what I know. I was born in the late 70s and grew up in the 80s and 90s. Back in the 80's I was blessed to be around and taught from old timers that were in there 80s. They were a different bunch of folk and it is our generation that was the last to know them. All the old farmers that taught me how to trap coyotes back then were adamant that coyotes did not arrive in this area until the 1960s. They said before then, there were only a few wolves, cats, and foxes. They would talk about trapping and hunting wolves and were convinced they were not coyotes. All those folks are dead and gone now, but I sure wish I could pick their brain. I believe the old timers, and I think Trapper gunny's post is spot on. The only population of black coyotes I know of around here is associated with the largest uncleared block of bottomland hardwood forest we have in this area.

My great uncle is in his late 80's. He was born in a log cabin in an area of Louisiana where it took till the late 1940's and early 1950's to get electricty. He remembers ivory billed woodpeckers and can make the call of one that sounds exactly like the old recordings. He remembers "panthers", Florida panthers, actually trapping them. His grandmother told him about the "tigre américain" or jaguars that woud be killed occassionally when the family was logging cypress. The man is a walking knowledge bank on the "old days". He was the one that taught me when I was younger how to hunt ant trap. Last week on my weekly visit he said he saw a coyote. This is the first coyote he has ever seen around his place. He told me he was surpised at how small it was when compared to the "wolves" that were around when he was growing up. I started hitting him up with questions. He said he never saw a coyote growing up, and the first time he ever saw one was taking a trip to Texas and it was dead on the side of the road. His father, my great grandfather, used to sit and tell stories about logging the Manchac basin, and I used to sit in wonderment listening to him. He would tell stories of wolves sneaking around their logging camps, killing livestock and how he used to kill them for the bounty. The state trappers knew the difference and it is well documented when they started seeing coyotes, and it all relates to when the red wolf populations declined.