  We construct meronic black holes and solitons in the Einstein
$SU(N)$-Yang-Mills theory in $D=4$ and $D=5$ dimensions. These analytical
solutions are found by combining the generalized hedgehog ansatz with the Euler
parameterization of the $SU(N)$ group from which the Yang-Mills equations are
automatically satisfied for all values of $N$ while the Einstein equations can
be solved analytically. We explicitly show the role that the color number $N$
plays in the black hole thermodynamics as well as in the gravitational spin
from isospin effect. Two remarkable results of our analysis are that, firstly,
meronic black holes can be distinguished by colored black holes by looking at
the spin from isospin effect (which is absent in the latter but present in the
former). Secondly, using the theory of non-embedded ansatz for $SU(N)$ together
with the spin from isospin effect, one can build fields of arbitrary high spin
out of scalar fields charged under the gauge group. Hence, one can analyze
interacting higher spin fields in asymptotically flat space-times without
"introducing by hand" higher spin fields. Our analysis also discloses an
interesting difference between the spin from isospin effect in $D=4$ and in
$D=5$.
