Out of interest, what are the colour variations of canis lupus and other wolf subspecies? Thank you for your time :)
Colour variations per wolf species:
- Gray wolves (Canis lupus) can have coat colours or colour combinations ranging from black, grey, white (though never a “pure”, bright white as seen in domestic dogs), brown, blonde, “silver”, reddish/orange. The Gray wolf has a lot of subspecies, and each subspecies has it’s own variation in colour. Some can come in all colours named above, whereas other Gray wolf subspecies for example only come in white.
If you want to know the coat colour possibilities of a certain Gray wolf subspecies, you can easily find that online.
Some colour possibilities in Gray wolves:
Entirely black [X]
Black and grey [X]
Different shades of grey [X]
Very light grey [X]
High contrast [X]
Little contrast [X]
Grey white black brown [X]
Brown/reddish with whites and blacks [X]
Brown and black with some greys [X]
Brown and black [X]
Light brownish/sandish [X]
Blonde/yellowish [X]
Silverish [X]
White [X]
White with some grey and/or black variations [X]
- Red wolves (Canis rufus) always have a combination of the colours orange/reddish, brown and grey, with black markings, along with some white parts and some black parts like in the tip of their tail:
[X]
- Ethiopian wolves (Canis simensis) are orange with white, with some grey/brown and black markings:
[X]
All of the depicted coat colours above of course can have lots of variations - especially the darkness/brightness and contrast. No wolf looks the same. It’s very difficult to map out all the different possibilities, but this gives a good overview.
Also, here’s a nice chart with pictures of some wolf subspecies that shows the typical coat colour for each subspecies.
