Coyote Color Variation

I am also trying to find information on what causes wolf 'black' (which is not usually solid black, but has brown or tan in various predicatable locations of britches, shoulder bar, mane, flanks, and sometimes underside of the tail etc.).  Is it on the k locus?  Is it dominant, recessive??  Is it K with a modifier that allows some color to show through?

All I can find in my research is that the color is introduced from domestic dogs thousands of years ago (predating European introduction to the Americas), but no specifics on the genetics of it.  I can not think of any domestic dog that is regularly colored like a black wolf (though it is striking!)

This is not the K locus.  The K locus results in solid black without light areas.   I highly doubt that this was introduced by dogs. Unless it was a "sooty" modifier for lack of a better word.  My gut feeling is telling me that this is a very dark a^w. If you compare this to the normal wolf coloration the light spots match just are very reduce in size.

Some of those coyotes are very interesting but I think most are variations of a^w The reddest one with the reddish nose I think may be ee as it is known that some coyotes in the north east have interbred with dogs enough to introduce that color into the gene pool. The white one with the blue eye I find extremely interesting. Would love to have been able to pull some hairs for analysis from that one.

So do you think that they are kk with a^w, as Kk or KK would mask it?

I "think" they are kk.  However, it's possible that dominant black can allow "leakage" of agouti.  We just don't know for sure.  

As often happens, while looking for something else I found this article that says they specifically tested melanistic wolves in Canada and found that they are negative for the recessive black (a) allele.  They didn't test for dominant black as it wasn't a focus in this study.  

http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/content/98/4/351.full.pdf

Sorry for bumping up an old topic. Found this trough Google and wanted to respond :)

I'm an owner of Tamaskan Dogs (a breed in development, bred to look like wolves) and am very interested in coat color genetics. I LOVE the black 'phase' color that wolves have and my dream is to achieve this coloring (or as similar as possible) in my own breeding of Tamaskan Dogs.

These are Tamaskan Dogs (mother and son) that we believe to be dominant black with agouti coloring showing trough:
[img]https://scontent-b-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hph…]

Though they have not been tested, so we can't say for certain. Mom did produce several pups with the same coloring, mates being of normal wolf grey (agouti) coloring.

Now this is an Alaskan Noble Companion Dog (another wolf lookalike breed in progress):
[img]https://scontent-b-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/hph…]

And she has been tested! Kb (dominant black) / x (unknown, but probably Ky) + at (Tan points) / x (unknown, but trough process of elimination aw (agouti). Now this dogs mother was also tested and is a solid black: genetically tested as Kb/Kb + at/at. So my guess is that dogs with one Kb might show trough what is on the A locus...

Fascinating!  Thank so much for posting!  We had discussed previous if perhaps dominant black "leaked"  at times in regards to seal colored Pitbulls, so it is entirely possible that this is the case.   

There have been instances of brindle dogs also testing positive for dominant black, which if our understanding of dominant black and brindle inheritance is correct should not be happening.   It makes me wonder if this is another case of dominant black "leaking" or if there is something else happening in all these cases.  

If you take a look at this thread and scroll down a bit you'll find some images of some similarly colored Belgian Shepherds

http://colorgenetics.info/forum/canine/…