The black wolves of the Southern United States were considered a separate species to the northern kind due to differences in colour and morphology, and were named dusky or clouded wolves ( Canis nubilus). A chieftain accepting a gift of black wolf fur was seen as an act of reconciliation. The fur of a black wolf was once considered by the natives of New England to be worth over 40 beaver skins. Bartram also described a 'black wolf-dog of the Florida Indians' which was identical to the local wolves, save for the fact that it could bark, and could be trusted around horses. He stated that they were 'perfectly black', except the females which were described as having a white spot on the breast.

In his 1791 book Travels, William Bartram mentioned seeing black wolves among the few red wolf populations he saw in Florida. Historically, the natives of the banks of the Mackenzie River, Saskatchewan River and southern Canada apparently never viewed black wolves as a distinct species.

North America Īlthough the black wolves of America were originally given the same binomial name as those in Europe, Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest believed that they were a different species. Black wolves in Tibet are known locally as chanko nagpo, and are considered bolder and more aggressive than the pale-coloured variety. The 'Derboun' of the Arabian mountains and southern Syria was a small black wolf which apparently was considered by the Arabs to be more closely related to dogs, as they freely ate its flesh like any other game, unlike with regular wolves which had an unpleasant odour. Asia īlack wolves were occasionally reported in Asia. In Serbia (Southeastern Europe, the Balkan Peninsula) indicated that on 17 November 2012, a black wolf was killed at Stara Mountain. Charles Hamilton Smith wrote that black wolves were generally less aggressive than ordinary kinds, and interbred with dogs more readily. Cuvier noted that European black wolves differed little in size from other colour morphs, but exceeded them in physical strength. Also, the last wolf in Scotland, supposedly killed by MacQueen of Pall à Chrocain, is usually narrated as having been black. Their pelts were considered exotic enough to be sold for three to four times the price established for more common colour morphs. These wolves were completely black and were bigger than the more common grey variety. Höggberg, a medical practitioner at Karlstad mentioned five black wolves being killed in the Swedish province of Värmland in 1801. Black wolves were considered rare in northern Europe however, Dr. However, in fact, 'Rossomak' in Russian exactly corresponds with the English 'wolverine', a mustelid species, in English ( Gulo gulo in Latin). Colonel Smith erroneously believed that the so-called 'Rossomak' of the Lenas in Siberia was of the same variety. Black wolves were also reported in Siberia as the Vekvoturian Mountain-wolf.

They also occurred in the mountains of Friuli ( Italy) and around Kotor ( Montenegro). Black wolves were considered rare in France, but common in Southern Europe at the time, with black wolf populations south to the Pyrenees apparently outnumbering other colour morphs.

Cuvier and other naturalists largely followed his example. Linnaeus gave the black wolves of Europe the binomial name Canis lycaon, under the assumption that the species was distinct from grey- and white-coloured wolves.

Black wolf express