page_title: Black wolf
hierarchical_section_title: Black wolf
caption_attribution_description: English: Illustration of European black wolf
context_page_description: A black wolf is a melanistic colour variant of the gray wolf. Black specimens are recorded among red wolves, though the phase is probably now extinct. Genetic research from the Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of California, Los Angeles revealed that wolves with black pelts owe their distinctive coloration to a mutation which occurred in domestic dogs, and was carried to wolves through wolf-dog hybridization. Besides coat and knee colour, they are normal grey wolves.
context_section_description: A black wolf is a melanistic colour variant of the gray wolf (Canis lupus). Black specimens are recorded among red wolves (Canis rufus), though the phase is probably now extinct. Genetic research from the Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of California, Los Angeles revealed that wolves with black pelts owe their distinctive coloration to a mutation which occurred in domestic dogs, and was carried to wolves through wolf-dog hybridization. Besides coat and knee colour, they are normal grey wolves.
caption: Illustration of a "European black wolf" by Charles Hamilton Smith.
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