Have You Seen This Rare Animal in the Montana Wilderness?

I was scrolling through Reddit earlier this week, when I saw a photo and a thread that kind of confused me. It asked a question about an animal I'd never ever seen. But, the photo evidence was there. So, I now pose the question to the people of the Treasure State. Have you seen this animal? And if so, where in Montana did you see it? If you haven't seen one, take a look at the black coyote.

This is One Rare Animal

A black coyote is not a different type or breed of coyote, it's actually just a regular coyote that has a genetic condition known as melanism, which means that their hair produces a large amount of black or nearly black pigmentation. It's a trait that is shown in coyotes in the Southeast but everywhere else, it's exceedingly rare.

It's hard to find information on black coyotes in Montana, however, according to the Southeastern Naturalist, black coyotes appear 2 or 3 times out of every 75 to 100 coyotes. This would mean a percentage of 2.6 to 3%. I haven't ever seen one, and I'm sure not a whole lot of Montanans have either.

Where in Montana Have You Seen One?

The original Reddit post has a comment that stated that he had seen a black coyote pelt, but not an actual live black coyote. When I asked on social media, one person said they have black coyotes on their ranch here in Montana, but no photos were sent my way. I'll make sure to update this article with those photos when I get them. So far, I haven't seen anyone at all who have seen any black coyotes in Montana.

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I'd love to see any photos of black coyotes in Montana. It would be amazing to highlight them in a gallery. If you have them, please send them to us, or post them in the comments on our social media page.