Black Wolves (aka the perils of research)

I’ve just been reading about a recent study which discovered that black wolves’ coat colouring derives from the historical mating of wild grey wolves with black dogs.

I found that to be interesting in a fairly abstract way, but that’s all. Until I read this quote from Robert Wayne, one of the academics involves in the study:

“It [the black coat] must have adaptive value that we don’t yet understand. It could be camouflage, or strengthening the immune system to combat pathogens, or it could reflect a preference to mate with individuals of a different coat color.”

So a certain dark-coloured wolf (yes, Karl, I’m looking at you) is now bugging me about his preferences when it comes to a mate. Damn it. So much for my carefully planned story.

Back to the drawing board. Or the blank word processing document….