Over the past year in California, five coyotes were seen in different places at once, which had blue eyes instead of the usual golden brown.
According to scientists, this signals that such an unusual mutation has already spread very widely.
According to National Geographic, wildlife photographer Daniel Dietrich saw an animal with unusual light blue eyes in California's Point Reyes National Seashore park last spring.
This is sometimes encountered among coyotes, but it is usually a very rare mutation. But over the next few months, other eyewitnesses spotted four more coyotes with similar blue eyes.
Moreover, they were seen in different places in California (including one within a radius of 100 miles from the first coyote), which indicates the observation of different animals and the spread of this mutation over a very wide area.
According to Dietrich, the animal he saw, apart from blue eyes, had no more features in appearance. It was the same long-legged coyote with the usual coat color, not albino and not with signs of leukism.
When Dietrich saw this beast, he called it "the only one in a million." As it turned out, he was wrong.
Coyotes with cold blue eyes were encountered in the area east of Sacramento as well as far south outside Santa Cruz. Two of them also live in Point Reyes National Seashore Park.
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Due to the narrow localization of the phenomenon, scientists believe that the unusually dominant mutation went only a few generations ago. Coyotes leave the pack at the age of 1 to 2 years, after which they are looking for a new territory, sometimes walking 10-20 miles and entering cities. Thus, it will take them approximately 5-6 generations to carry the mutation 100 miles from the original source.
According to another version, it is not about a stable mutation, but about hybridization with domestic dogs. Coyotes and dogs can interbreed and produce offspring, which in English is called the coydogs (coydogs). However, these animals tend to have changes in both body shape and coat color, which have not been seen in blue-eyed coyotes.
A common coyote with golden brown eyes.
The golden brown eyes of coyotes are the result of millions of years of evolution.
In pets, blue eyes are the result of centuries of artificial breeding. Wild dogs, like wolves, do not have such eyes.
Apparently, the blue-eyed mutation of coyotes has every chance of spreading further, covering more and more animals and new territories. All five blue-eyed coyotes looked healthy and strong animals and probably have a good gene pool.