The Unique 'One-In-A-Million' Animal Spotted In Western Texas

Texans often associate animals like longhorns, armadillos, and blue Lacy dogs with the Lone Star State. Desert mule deer are also popular in the state, particularly in the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas. These deer typically have a brownish-gray coat, but one particular type of mule deer that's far less common has been seen in western Texas: Biologists from the Trans-Pecos Wildlife District, which operates under the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD), spotted the "one-in-a-million anomaly" when their helicopter flew over a black-haired mule fawn in March 2022.

The biologists were conducting wildlife surveys during the encounter and filmed the sighting of the rare animal. They shared the footage of the fawn running on the district's official Facebook page, coining the deer as "the rarest of rare." A black-coated mule deer indicates melanism, a genetic abnormality likely caused by mutations that trigger an overproduction of melanin. This particular Trans-Pecos fawn had mostly black fur with a few white spots.

To many people, black-haired desert mule deer are comparable to rare dog breeds, like the Kai Ken dog breed and the Sloughi, but they're scarcer. The TPWD biologists estimate that only "one in several million" desert mule deer is born with melanism. These unique deer can also be compared to black cats due to the excess melanin they both share.

While the Trans-Pecos Wildlife District biologists' video left thousands of viewers in awe, it wasn't the first time someone shared proof of an encounter with a melanistic mule deer. In 2012, a photographer captured a shot of a black mule deer doe lying with other does of the traditional brownish-gray color. Two other photos of a black mule deer doe — one alone and one with another mule deer doe — showed up on Backcountry Gallery Forums in 2021. 

One of the most well-known melanistic mule deer sightings was that of a buck in 2016. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources posted a video of a black-haired fawn in Moab that was temporarily separated from his mom by a chain link fence. The deer, nicknamed Coal, continued to prance around the area in the years that followed to the delight of local residents. But sadly, a resident found Coal deceased in their backyard in December 2019. The Salt Lake Tribune reported the cause of death as chronic wasting disease, an infection that causes brain lesions.