In Hendersonville, North Carolina, hunting plays a significant role in the way of life. Many outdoor enthusiasts also take pleasure in searching for unique breeds of wild animals.
To do this, one resident installed a camera in his backyard to record all the various species of wildlife that frequented the area, the man decided it wouldn’t harm to set up a concealed camera and watch what kind of wildlife would emerge out of the trees because he had heard urban tales about how weird creatures were rumored to stroll the forests just beyond the limits of his home, as he was always curious about what happened in the woods behind his home.
But what he discovered was incredible. He had just hoped to catch a glimpse of a few wild deer, but his camera ended up recording much more.
He captured a video in his own backyard, which has since gone viral online and piqued the curiosity of scientists.
Despite not being hunters, the guy and his family enjoy uploading wildlife films to their YouTube account.
In countless respects, photographing wildlife is superior to shooting it with a gun. Perhaps more people who enjoy the outdoors will start to hold similar views.
The family enjoyed recording footage of the local wild deer, but one day when they sat down to watch what they had made, they noticed something they had never noticed before.
A rare black coyote captured on film. A sight unseen…
The family uploaded the video to a computer and started to browse through it, as they usually do with their film. They then noticed what appeared to be a dog with black fur.
They uploaded the video to their YouTube page, where viewers were quick to identify the animal they had managed to photograph.
“The occasional black coyote is seen in the great plains states and in the eastern states; they may actually be the result of hybridization with wolves. It would take DNA analysis to be sure,” according to the description in the viral YouTube video.
The animal looked as though it was a cross-breed coyote. These are rarely captured on camera or seen in the wild.
While the man’s property spans a wide range, the chance of such a rare animal wandering past his camera is very low.
“The same genetic mutation that causes the trait in coyotes can also be found in black-colored gray and red wolves, as well as in dogs. This suggests that the trait could have found its way into the southeastern coyote gene pool through past hybridizations with wolves,” reads a statement from the Atlanta Coyote Project.
Here are some comments from folks online:
“Wow, in all my years, I’ve never seen a black coyote beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing.”
“That coyote sure is beautiful. I’ve only seen one black coyote in the wild my entire life. I was on a country road and came to the stop sign. It was up on the side of the hill across from me. It just stood there, perfectly still watching me. I watched it for a minute or so and then drove off. It caught me by surprise. It was like I was frozen for a little bit. Absolutely beautiful.”
“I’ve got one that has been showing up on a few of my cams about an hour south of you. Been trying to call him in with no luck.”
“I’ve seen one before in a cow field in North Florida. We always felt like they could be coy dogs.”
“There used to be a subspecies of eastern black wolf in Florida up into the early 20th century….they say it is extinct, but from descriptions its looks an awful lot like this…”
Watch the video below:
Sources: Awm, Heartlandnewsfeed, Timberwolfinformation