Two rare black wolves, possibly siblings, were spotted in a forest in Poland on Sunday. The wolves were seen crossing a river in the forest on camera. The unusual sight, captured on a video camera set up last year by Safe Wildlife Conservation Fund Poland project coordinator Joanna Toczydlowska, has inspired the organization to collect feces in the forest in hopes of learning more about the genetics of black wolves.
Toczydlowska told The Associated Press that this is something new and unusual. Toczydlowska had initially set up the camera to study beavers. When she noticed she was recording wolves, she left the camera there and collected footage of the black wolves a few weeks ago.
In one clip, a black wolf and a brown wolf slowly cross a creek in the forest, the water reaching their bellies, before they leap to the shore. The second clip, taken last fall, records two black wolves and a brown wolf crossing the same creek.
Most of the 2,500 to 3,000 wolves in Poland are gray with red or black flecks. The black fur comes from a genetic mutation that probably occurred in domesticated dogs thousands of years ago. Dark fur is rare in Europe because of low genetic diversity, but at least half of the wolf population in Yellowstone National Park in the United States has black fur.
Noting that wolves travel in families and that both black wolves were about 30 kilograms (66 pounds) — roughly the size of a German shepherd — Toczydlowska said they were likely siblings and about a year old. At least one is a male. The conservation organization, which has been monitoring wolves in Poland for 13 years, is not disclosing the location of the forest to protect the wolves from poaching and to prevent the spread of misinformation about wolves.
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