WolfQuest

Take a look at this image of a canid:


This post made the front page of Reddit today, titled "Black wolf". If you didn't know, Reddit is a popular online website for news, discussion, and rating media content.

Anyway, the top comment in the thread--so the comment that the most people gave a "like" if you will--thinks that this is a picture of the widely publicized wolf Romeo. And from what I could see, most of the top comments on the the post also thought this was a wolf/Romeo.

I don't think so though. I initially reverse image searched to try and find the original source of the image, but did not have meaningful success.

Here's why I personally think it's a black german shepherd:

• Long tail length. This canid's tail extends well past the tarsus of the leg. In this picture of a wolf mid-gallop, with the lower hind leg well bent, the tail doesn't come close to the ground:

• Coat color. This animal is a solid black color. There are solid black german shepherds, as well as other dog breeds with this coloration. Black wolves have brown tones to their fur, and sometimes white hairs too. Romeo in particular had a white chin anyway!

• Ear shape. Wolves have rounded ear tips, whereas this canid has pointed ears.

But those are just my observations... What do you guys think?

(Also: I posted my thoughts on the Reddit thread too, hopefully they will be seen. I'm pretty confident based on what we can see here that this is definitely a dog, or maaaybe a low content wolfdog.)

yeah the moment i saw that i instantly thought of a dog. pointy ears with a lack of dense fur inside were what first caught my eye. the legs made me think of a gsd, and the rest of the head features like the cheek fur and all that just don't feel entirely wolf-y. also it's not exactly easy to get a photo like this of a wolf in the wild lol

I'm not under any illusion I'm good at things like this, but my mind immediately jumped to "dog" as well, largely because of the colouration and the ears. I think it also helps that the interaction with the stick just reminds me of any dog distracted on a walk.

That's definitely a gorgeous canine and photo either way, though!

I agree, it looks more like a German shepherd or, possibly, a wolf-dog hybrid. You made some good points about the ears and tail. German shepherds have longer tails that can also appear thin, with pointed ears.



This is Romeo. Note the more rounded ears and how his tail is shorter and less visible.

I've also read the book about Romeo and have done further reading on him, and have never seen this particular photo in your post before. But I agree with Anduril, it is beautiful!

It's important to note that the back appears sloped as well, which is characteristic of German shepherds.

To me, the animal you shared, DaniBeez, seems unnaturally black for a wolf as you mentioned. Perhaps the angle of the photo prevents one from best discerning the animal's fur coloration, but that tint of black aligns more with the regular dog pictured next to Romeo that Isela shared, than Romeo himself.

At the most, it's a low content wolfdog, and either a German shepherd or some other mix of dog, at the very least.

This definitly looks like a wolf-dog, it has some dog points like you said, but it also looks
Like it has the big paws and thick fur of a wolf. It looks nothing like Romeo, I've seen pictures of him and his fur was not that dark.

It's a dog or a low content. If that was a wolf it would have to be a camera trap but the photo is in the middle of a road were there are no trees and a wolf would not let a person get that close. So definitely not a wolf.

Definitely not Romeo that's for sure. The first thing I noticed was the ears too and that the animal is simply too silky black. His body is pressed down so the pose could make the tail appear longer, but anyway I still agree with everyone that this is probably not a wolf.

This drives me nuts I hope we'll get the truth someday.

EDIT: Oi, does anyone else see the same picture in this before playing? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a--LYvESaRg

https://img.aijaa.com/m/00925/14668018.jpg

I know this is an older post, but I think it looks like a wolfdog. While at first glance, I thought it could be a wolf, but looking at it again, and the location it's in, I doubt it's an actual wolf. Most likely a wolfdog. The camera angle and the snowy setting do make it difficult to tell though. However, having seen pictures of Romeo, I can tell you right now that it is definitely not him.