Camera trap films two rare black wolves in Poland

A camera trap placed inside a forest in Poland has filmed two rare black wolves crossing a stream, SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund Poland announced recently.

Originally set up to record beavers that were building a dam in the water, the camera ended up capturing the black wolves on film twice: once in the summer of 2024, and again toward the end of the year, said Joanna Toczydłowska, the nonprofit’s wolf project coordinator.

“We were very surprised and couldn’t believe it for a while,” Toczydłowska told Mongabay by email.

Poland is home to around 2,000 gray wolves (Canis lupus), which, as their name suggests usually have gray coats. One genetic variant creates the black coat color, Tim Coulson, a zoology professor at the University of Oxford, U.K., not involved with the Poland-based organization, told Mongabay by email.

“It is very interesting to see these photographs,” Coulson said. “Black wolves are rare in Europe, with a few occasionally seen in parts of Northern Italy … My guess is a black wolf with this variant moved across from Italy to Poland and then bred.”

Toczydłowska said that although some people have previously claimed to have seen black or dark-furred wolves, none of those sightings were confirmed.

As for the two black wolves filmed by the camera trap, Toczydłowska said they don’t know much yet, but suspect the individuals were about one and a half years old and “probably siblings.”

To understand the genetics of why they have black fur, and if they have any signs of being wolf-dog hybrids, the team now wants to conduct DNA tests on the wolves’ fecal samples, preferably before the winter is over.

“The samples need to be very fresh and finding them is very difficult. Fortunately, the cold weather helps; the low temperature protects the DNA from degradation,” Toczydłowska said, adding that her organization is looking for a sponsor to fund the expensive DNA tests.

Although rare in Europe, black wolves are somewhat common in parts of the U.S., including Yellowstone National Park. Coulson said for wolves in North America a gene called the K locus (or CBD103) determines coat color and is also involved in fighting dangerous respiratory viruses like canine distemper virus (CDV). Black-furred wolves in Yellowstone seem to survive CDV outbreaks better than their gray-furred counterparts, Coulson and his colleagues found in a study.

The same genetic mechanism may be involved in creating black-furred wolves in Europe, although it’s possible there are other genetic ways, Coulson said. “What we do know is black wolves are common in parts of the USA, are occasionally seen in parts of Europe — particularly Italy — and also in parts of Asia, and in particular in areas near the Himalayas.”