Experts on the animal confirmed that it was a Canada lynx, but could not make out too many distinctive features in the grainy video.

”It had a black coat containing whitish gray guard hairs throughout, as well as whitish gray hairs in the facial ruff and the rostrum and dorsal regions,” Jung reports.

Most of the lynx species has similar coloring, with Canada lynx often appearing with silvery gray coats in the winter. Their coats often turn reddish brown in the summer.

The lynx captured in the video is therefore an especially rare animal for its coat color variations.

Jung explains that variations like this are often adaptations that can be of evolutionary benefit (adaptive) or come as a disadvantage (maladaptive).

Scientists have yet to determine if melanism in any species if an advantage or disadvantage. Jung, however, believes that the trait in the lynx leads to a lack of necessary camouflage and is therefore maladaptive. Hunting in the winter, the animal would likely stand out in the snow with its darker hair.