Wolves are complex, intelligent animals that exhibit caring, playful, and devoted to family. They live in packs, groups of animals related by close blood ties, which ensure the care and feeding of their offspring. Wolves travel far and wide to locate prey, often traveling 50 miles or more each day in search of food. Pack formation occurs when a solitary female pairs with a solitary male, but in densely populated landscapes, opportunities to find a potential mate in an unoccupied area exist. Wolves live in extended families called packs, typically consisting of 4 to 12 wolves.
The raven-wolf pack theory was developed by scientists who watched wolves on Isle Royale in Lake Superior after puzzling over a question about why wolves hunt in packs. Wolves live in packs, which are typically defined as a cohesive family unit that uses an established territory. A pack can vary in size from two breeding adults up to a multigenerational group containing 10 or more wolves.
Living in a pack not only facilitates the raising and feeding of pups, coordinated and collaborative hunting, and defense of territory but also allows for stronger, usually younger, wolves often leaving or being pushed out of their packs due to mating and resource allocation issues enforced by the pack. To save energy, wolves travel in a line, with the wolf in front cutting a path. The wolf’s instinctive mission is to break up hostilities to lower tensions within a pack, and they are the scapegoat who receives all the social aggression from the pack.
Wolves may travel as far as 30 miles in a day, operating more in a family structure. If a male breaks off from the pack to establish his own territory, he risks losing his territory. Much of their communication is about reinforcing the social hierarchy of the pack, and when a wolf wants to show submissiveness to another wolf, it will do so.
📹 We Were Wrong About Wolves and Wolf Packs This Whole Time
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What makes the wolves group as a pack?
Wolves live in family groups called packs, consisting of a male parent, a female parent, and their pups from the last few years. These pups are called litter mates and their first home is usually a den, which can be a small cave or a hole dug in the ground. Packs may use the same den for several years or find a new den each year.
Pups grow inside their mother for about 63 days before they are born, weighing only one pound and having closed eyes. They open their eyes 10-14 days after birth, and by two weeks, they can waddle and may come out of the den for the first time. They initially live on milk from their mother, but by three weeks, they start eating meat. Adult wolves bring meat to them in their stomachs, and the pups lick around the adult’s mouth when it returns from the hunt, eating the regurgitated meat within seconds. If the pups are too persistent in begging for food, adult wolves may growl to warn them to stop or may leave the area to avoid the pups.
All wolves in a pack help take care of the pups, with some members bringing food to the mother when the pups are very small. Once the pups are about eight weeks old, the adults leave the den and take the pups to a rendezvous site, where they gather to sleep, play, eat, and hang out.
How many wolves usually travel together?
Wolves live in packs, with a size ranging from two to 15 members. Within the pack hierarchy, there are male and female hierarchies, with the alpha male dominating the entire pack. Young adults can either join the pack or leave to find their own territory at age three. In the northern United States, wolves breed from late January through March, while those farther south have earlier breeding seasons.
Wolves are pregnant for about 63 days and usually birth four to six pups. The alpha female and male are the only ones that breed. Young adults typically mate for life and can travel hundreds of miles to find new territory.
Do wolves travel in herds?
Wolves, typically hunting in packs of five to 15 individuals, have been observed in Washington, with an average home range of 140 to 400 miles. State wildlife managers have found no evidence that wolves’ current predation levels have affected Washington’s elk, deer, or moose populations, which are mostly growing or stable. The Washington Department of Wildlife and Parks (WDFW) is monitoring the status and trend of ungulate populations in Washington and is partnering with the University of Washington grad students on the Washington Predator-Prey Project, a 5-year study investigating wolves and their competitors’ effects on ungulate populations in managed landscapes.
Why do wolves stay in groups?
A pack is a family dynamic where young wolves learn survival skills from their parents and siblings. Packs can range from two breeding adults to multigenerational groups with 10 or more wolves. As wolves age, they venture farther from their den, reaching six months of age and traveling with their pack to hunt elk and deer. By 1. 5 to 2 years of age, juvenile wolves are fully grown and capable of hunting large prey independently. Wolves reach breeding age at around age 2, and as there is only one breeding pair in each pack, a wolf ready to find a mate must leave its natal pack.
What do wolf packs do when one dies?
A wolf pack is a family unit consisting of a breeding pair, offspring, and dispersing wolves. The pack is responsible for raising young wolves, teaching them survival skills from their parents and siblings. The pack can range from two breeding adults to a multigenerational group containing 10 or more wolves. The family dynamic allows wolves to learn hunting, avoiding danger, and self-defense. Dispersing wolves from other packs may join the pack when a breeding male or female dies.
Can a wolf survive without a pack?
Lone wolves encounter a variety of challenges and dangers, yet their health and survival depend on dispersing, finding mates, establishing new packs, and occupying new territories. The period between fall and winter is the most common time for wolves to disperse, as breeding occurs in late winter. Following dispersion, wolves engage in foraging activities and seek mates.
What is a zeta in a wolf pack?
The Zeta, the war general of the pack, takes direct orders from the Alpha in case of war. They lead the army and plan war plans, and train new recruits for future positions. Typically, there is only one Zeta, but if the populace is high, there can be up to three. The Eta, the warriors of the pack, are led by the Zeta or Epsilon during skirmishes and wars. They can take orders from the Alpha or other higher ranks, but the Alpha is above all. Theta, the lead medics within the pack, are the Iota’s aspired to be.
Can a lone wolf join a pack?
Lone wolves, or singular outside wolves, are vulnerable to food scarcity and territorial attacks and make up less than 15% of the total wolf population. They often result from sexually mature offspring leaving their parental pack or from harassed subordinates dispersing. In times of prey scarcity, low-ranking wolves may choose to leave the pack or join an existing wolf pack, often finding a mate and beginning a new pack family as the alphas.
The breeding pair, also known as the “alpha pair” or “alpha wolves”, are the matriarch and patriarch of the family unit, breeding and producing offspring. In times of scarcity, the breeding pair may prioritize the care of the pups and feed the youngest wolves first. However, pup mortality is high, with only about 30 survive their first year of life.
Those who survive grow up with the added advantage of being surrounded by numerous caretakers and teachers. Within wolf packs, there exists a culture that is passed on to the offspring by the elders of the group. Pups learn from each member of the pack and acquire the social skills required to create powerful bonds within the wolf’s societal structure.
Why do wolves travel in packs?
Wolves are complex, highly intelligent animals that exhibit caring, playful, and devoted to family. Living in a pack allows for the raising and feeding of pups, coordinated hunting, and defense of territory. Wolves care for each other as individuals and form unique emotional bonds between pack members, forming the foundation for cooperative living. A wolf pack is an extended family of parents, offspring, siblings, aunts, uncles, and sometimes dispersers from other packs.
The job of maintaining order and cohesion falls largely to the alphas, or breeding pair, who, especially the alpha female (mother of the pack), are the glue keeping the pack together. The loss of a parent can have a devastating impact on social group cohesion, and in small packs, human-caused mortality of the alpha female and/or the alpha male can cause the entire pack to dissolve.
What is the hierarchy of a wolf pack?
Wolf packs typically consist of an alpha male and female, and often an omega male and female. In wolf hierarchy, males tend to dominate other males, while females dominate other females, resulting in a low-ranking member of each sex. The alpha pair would never allow the omega male and female to mate, making the omegas not pair-bonded.
In the Sawtooth Pack, which consisted of five males, Lakota held the omega position alone. Lakota’s posture was noticeable, with his tail tucked, shoulders hunched, and head lowered. However, he was a huge wolf, possibly larger than his brother, Kamots, the alpha. His paws were bigger than his brother.
Social rank in a wolf pack goes beyond size and strength. Lakota would approach and timidly lick the author’s face, often causing the author to run their hand down his back through his fur coat. His skin was marked with bumps and scabs from previous encounters, and his muzzle had small scars.
As the author sat with Lakota, he began to relax and trust that the author wouldn’t hurt him. He would gently place his paw on the author’s shoulder and gaze at them with his sweet, wise, amber eyes. This moment captivated the author and forever held a special place in their heart.
What happens when two wolf packs meet?
Yellowstone, home to around 95 individuals, has an estimated eight wolf packs, each with their own territories. However, during winter months, deep snow can cause wolves to follow their prey down, leading to violent run-ins between packs. Studies have shown that gray wolves will often kill members of rival packs, especially pups. These territorial battles can occur even when food is abundant, with other wolves being the number-one cause of death among the park’s wolves in 2014.
📹 The formation of the wolves is incredible#truestory #animals
Thank you, Anton Petrov, for taking the time to make this article clearing up these myths about alphas & dominance. Not only is it incredibly interesting (I’m a trainer & dog behavior nerd), but more importantly, these myths have been incredibly damaging to dogs even though this information has been available for decades, as you noted.
“Never cry Wolf” by Canadian Farley Mowat is about his experience studying arctic wolves in 1948-49 because of complaints of too many caribou were being killed. He only noted the family units with no hint of alpha, beta and omega characters. I read this book back in the 1960’s as a kid. He found the caribou overkills from hunting by the visitors to the area and not from the Eskimos nor the wolves.
I mean I think a lot of people already knew this as did I, but alpha is now seen as a derogatory term and I don’t think it is. When I was young, even when I was considered an adult and still living with my family, my mom and dad were considered the “alphas/parents/guardians”.☺️ They were the ones that made the decisions and provided for the rest of us. We would still have our own opinions as kids but they were still in charge and we were expected to obey their rules while under their roof. I think when people refer to the mother and father canine as the alphas it doesn’t mean that they are more important than the babies, it simply means that they are the first head of their household or the ones in charge of leading the family. 😃 Also wolves do rarely show aggression however, when the pups reach a certain age or when they’re older and trying the parents, the parents will growl and nip at them the same way domestic dogs do their puppies to discipline them. Dogs and most animals as a matter of fact are very good at training their young. If a pup bites too hard, the other pup yells out which frightens the puppy who bit him, and as a result teaching that pup that when you bite this hard and unpleasant thing happens. I’ve seen countless articles of mother wolves in the wild becoming impatient and “aggressive” with their much older pups. They never hurt them but they do nick them or growl loud enough so that the older pups understand they should not annoy mom or should listen when she says to stop.
So, the study was not wrong, just that it shouldn’t have been applied to wolves out in the wild. The concepts of alfa male still applies in captivity because they don’t have that family structure and they instinctively create an artificial one. It’s also still valid in human societies because we don’t work with our family members at our jobs or in the army.
Thanks for bringing this up. I was perusal the hours long article’s of the Canadian wolf re-introductuion program and they said the same. The entire fighting for dominance thing just wasn’t there. Its a lot of enthusiastic greeting and mingling but no fighting. Being the leader is hard work, sacrifice and care. No shouty stuff needed.
Thank you Anton for the enlightening info. Love your website. I always thought it was more of a family of wolves than what others have mentioned about them. One has to actually live more with animals in order to understand them better and I’ve seen animals actually help each other, more than some humans do with each other. HIGH 5
Thank you for sharing this, Anton. You really are a Wonderful Person! I have believed something like this for years, but everything said I was wrong; except the native teachers I’ve been blessed enough to have. Thank you for helping to share the truths those tribal elders have tried to teach us for generations. To many,, wolf medicine is the medicine of the teacher & caregiver; a guide. Just shows we need to listen & understand better, to that which comes from those who live closest to their truths. Thank you, wonderful person!
Thanks for sharing this article. I always appreciate when someone brings this up, because it really needs to be talked about more. I had to explain this to two people in the last week, both who were referencing dog behavior with this idea, and they were actually surprised to learn this, because it’s been a part of our vocabulary and ideas about certain things for so long now.
Thank you so much for this article and the information it contains. It’s so very important to understand that we drew the wrong conclusions early on, from flawed data. This needs to be known world wide. Wolves are beautiful, loving, majestic creatures whose existence has proven time and again to be good for nature, and the environment. Thank you Anton. 👍👍
My cousin used to live near a guy that had a wolf dog, I think it was mixed with a great Dane or a husky. But that dog was the nicest animal I probably have ever met and was very well trained. And I mean to the point where he was, never on a lead, leash, or anything. I lived with my cousin for a few months going to a different school. And every day, the dog would follow me to the bus stop, wait, and then walk back home. Not only that he would pick me up from the bus stop and walk me back home. He hated cars though and always seemed aggressive at first and scare people a bit until they realized that he was just a sweetheart. And I didn’t even interact with him to start this behavior he just did it on his own free will. And would do it to my cousin too, because we had different bus times. Lowkey miss that dog.
Most western militaries aren’t based on that alpha mentality. The ones that are structured that way are quick to crumble since their personnel are eager to defect. See interviews of former North Korean military personnel especially when they talk about their first interactions with western military members.
My family has always had dogs in it. When I was little it was never “feed the dog, walk the dog, brush the dog.” It was and is still to this day “your sister/brother looks hungry, we need some fresh air so it’s time for a walk, it’s spring time so your sister/brother needs help with their coat.” Our animals are our part of the family.
Interesting, but the same type of structure (alpha males and pack structure) has been found in apes as well. Is that wrong as well? Those apes were studied in nature and are quite violent in their pursuit of power. I like the idea that this is not the way nature works, but know too much about other animals to think that this is not the case. I’d be interested what others have to say about that….
Good news for wolves in Colorado! “Since passage of Proposition 114 in November 2020, Colorado’s government has made excellent progress toward restoring gray wolves to the vast public wildlands of the Centennial State. Notably, on May 17 Governor Polis and Colorado’s General Assembly made history by appropriating $1.1M for wolf restoration. No other governor or state legislature has ever enacted such a law. The appropriation is clear evidence that elected officials at the state house and governor’s mansion have fully embraced the will of voters to have wolves restored. This portends a proud future for the species across the vast public wildlands of western Colorado. We’ve been bursting with pride to share this good news. We will continue to play an important role in future policy initiatives on behalf of wolves in Colorado. We aim to make you as proud as we are. For the wild, Your Team at the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project”
Pain is the indicator of how much one knows life. Alphas might be or might have parents that had to fight to survive. Life is hard, and it’ll make itself obvious with time. Till then don’t judge the hard person for they mightve already suffered more than you. Till then Anton, i much appreciate your website and your content. I want to learn everyday, and your website is one of those places i go to. Your life might seem repetitive to you, but it’s also the fiber that lends strength in the life of some as you directly give them joy in life, in turn making most want to keep pushing. Society needs people that push. You are partly the foundation. Thanks for your commitment to education that matters
The Zoo experiment that ended up making way for the alpha male theory is not totally useless after all. It works in the exact same way for us: people of different families and cultural backgrounds forcefully put together (as in under a company, the military or even school): We build up some artificial hierarchy and bullying shows up due to competition for some sort of leadership.
Outstanding! Love wolves and seeing this dated on my birthday is swell. Another misunderstanding you might address is their size. Humans have become too accustomed to dogs as a size reference. Watched a terrible documentary with a guy describing a wolf but believed it wasn’t natural because it was wolf-sized. He kept referring to dog sizes. It was infuriating! Thanks again, Anton! Stay wonderful!
Thanks, Anton, for something completely different but none the less, extremely interesting. It’s great to have a change now and then and you’ve given me even more to think about. Have you considered that humans in a multi generation family form the same structure as wolves, whilst those humans removed from the family environment tend to form alpha structures? I’m thinking in terms of the corporate mentality as opposed to sibling bonding.
Congratulations on your articles! I enjoy the high-quality content you provide, and it’s refreshing to me that you cover a rather wide range of interesting topics, which suggests that you are a naturally very smart man and that you put quite a lot of energy into your content, which I am so grateful for. Thank you!
Even though studies were wrong about wolves in nature, I don’t think we were wrong about our dog packs and ourselves. Our pet packs are also largely studies in melding strangers into families. We can see the hierarchical behaviors play out and so it’s good to be aware of the captivity structure dynamics. When it comes to people, we are all essentially captives in some structure or another. We are more like captive wolves than wild wolves for sure, at the mercy of strangers unrelated to us, expected to form work bonds or friend bonds or whatever. The concepts from the captive wolf studies are alas more relevant to our existence.
Only thing that does also take part in Dogtraining to make it right: Showing boundaries for the dog, but that isn’t done by being aggressive. Simply for exampe they aren’t supposed to be in the kitchen. You firmly but not brutally push them out of the kitchen constantly as a group. They learn they aren’t supposed to be in the kitchen. perusal dogs how they calmly resolve issues and put boundaries up is helpful there.
His book is actually pretty accurate in describing human behavior based on an unnatural environment of competition created by capitalism and other unnatural factors. Cancer is the result of being forced to work without being allowed breaks we would normally take. And then on top of it living in a system with incredibly high medical bills and not having access to very healthy or fresh food. Europeans get several months of vacation and if we are lucky we get two weeks but most people don’t even get that.
I never really thought of myself as an alpha when I trained animals. I always thought that if an animal respects you, it will listen to you. I really focused on dog learning as respect based, from what I saw. I think that they can understand us at a basic and sometimes advanced level. They have to see that you have something valuable to them, which can be a variety of things. It’s not that you are above them, it’s that you can offer them something. Which is food, companionship, or whatever else the dog/animal has drive for. Anyone else have opinions on this from a training standpoint?
Great little piece but – I think it’s the other way round: the scientists, blinkered by our own competitive, heirarchical culture, saw that reflected in the wolves – the ‘alpha male’ myth being a useful (but spurious) ‘validation’ for that system. Jane Goodall managed to break free from these preconceptions when she observed chimps and changed our ideas about animal behaviour. It took ‘beginners eyes’ (and a woman’s eyes) to see without prejudice. I love wolves and I hope we will reintroduce them here in the UK.
Thank you anton for this wonderful article, something always felt off with the whole alfa, beta mentality to me, now hopefully we will find out why some humans behave in such ways aswell, i have my hypothesis concerning school and work how it affects the minds of kids when they are not near their parents and sorounded by strangers so i see some similarities with what is happening to wolfs.
I gotta say this article is confusing. Wolf packs being families is not a recent discovery. Any nature documentary from 20-30 years ago would describe them in this way. Even Rudyard Kiplings the jungle book described the pack as a family. Secondly, what is this weird linguistic trick? What is the real difference between an Alpha, leader of a pack and a father, leader of the family? They appear to be the same thing. Leader of random strangers vs leader of family members would be the only difference, and it’s a very small one as packs will accept non related wolves from time to time. Thirdly military hierarchies and structures have not changed much for thousands of years. I don’t think wolf study affected it. Lastly the term alpha predates any wolf study. In the Bible alpha and omega, first and last. This term fits fine with describing parents of a family or leaders in general. Parents are leaders.
Funny you mention the military, I recognized this mentality during my time in the military. It was a long time ago but I knew their form of training was actually counterproductive. Once I was out of training I saw how little prepared for military life you are, a waste of 8 weeks IMO. You learn nothing practical you can use once in permanent party. If you throw a group of unrelated dogs or wolves together maybe they do revert to the whole Alpha thing.
My sister had wolf-huskies, and they were wonderful dogs. Very willful and needed training for sure, but loving and very chill for being so big. I will always remember the sound of the Christmas CD playing big band songs while we opened presents and the sound of four wolves in the next room methodically and enthusiastically chewing through giant bones, with the dog door closed to keep them from running around all the presents and Amarok would stop knocking stuff off the coffee table with his tail…
I remember first hearing this on non-related course from one of the participants, i was genuinely shocked but did not look into it. Now i am glad i have been infoed about the alpha being a myth, If wolves behave this wrong in zoo it just makes me sad thinking about smarter animals and im thinking about wales and dolphins…
We do not need to reject the model derived from wolf behaviours in captivity. The conclusion should be – the hierarchy model applies to groups that aren’t a family of two pair bonded adults devoted to their children. The wolf captivity model with unrelated adults thrust in to close proximity matches all human groups that aren’t a nuclear family. The positive reinforcement model works only if there’s been a raising dynamic beginning when mommy wolf is 100x the size of the pups and can easily mould boundaries of acceptable behaviours. Once an adult has problematic behaviours (like an abused dog or one trained through positive reinforcement to be aggressive to everyone/everything except their owner) it’s a different situation requiring other strategies in addition to positive reinforcement to modify.
Being the “alpha” in your “pack” doesn’t mean “be more violent and aggressive.” Aggression and dominance, among dogs and wolves, are two different thing. I have an EXTREMELY “alpha” Husky. She has a crazy drive to be in charge of everyone. My brother has a Husky who is the opposite. He is not at all interested in being in charge.
Wolves are amazing and beautiful creatures. I am so glad that America has worked to conserve the packs again. Never remove an alpha predator lightly if ever at all. It’s a huge ripple in a lake that can disturb a lot. Thanks Anton, as always. The new information make a ton of sense. Families…who wouda thunk it…
Great understandings about wolves. The alpha male thing is maybe better studied in baboons, which can also manage a gentle matriarchy (See Sapolsky’s research) And the alpha model does apply to creatures imprisoned. Human prisoners and wolves behave much the same and hierarchy becomes a big issue. The implication of course is that when alphas dominate, conditions are extremely bad.
I have large dogs living with livestock. I still feel I need to be tough on them. Only about 0.05%, the rest of it pure affection, but it’s still there and it’s needed. You’re right that it is as simple as positive and negative, black and white. However, delicate environments considering a dogs nature, you sometimes need to be clear about boundaries. How many dogs have you trained Cozmo?
The group of friends I grew up with called ourselves the Wolf pack and we used to tell people that this was how they really acted. Now of a all for one and one for all and if one of us got out of line we all came together to address the problem like wolves really do. I like to see wrongs righted in life as in this case. Long live the Wolf pack Wolf 🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺
7:06 “…Wolves are incredibly loyal to each other an present almost a perfect family with males and females mating for life and always helping each other…” But what if one of the wolves wants to identify as gender fluid, or maybe live as a cat? Surely that is it’s right and other wolves shouldn’t impose their outdated morality on others! Maybe some wolves should display their virtue by telling those with light coats how evil they are because those with dark coats are always being oppressed by them – surely that’s the way to peace and unity in any pack? Silly me, wolves aren’t insane!
I used to volunteer with wolves as a kid and teenager at sanctuaries, and I’ve been saying this for YEARS. Wolves don’t have a strict hierarchy, and even among strangers they sometimes don’t show this ‘alpha’ behavior. Wolf packs are a family unit, and they work together. The strength of the pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the pack.
I learned to train dogs about 18 years ago from a pro. He NEVER took stock in the Alpha thing. Direct punishment (sometimes necessity) should NEVER “come” from the owner. If your dog is chewing on a power cable or something you toss something (try to consistently use the same item) near, NOT AT the dog. We used a few links of a chain for clear auditory quality and not being commonly used item in a residential area. After associating that sound with intervention, just the sound of the links jingling is usually enough to make them stop what they are doing without tossing. They associate “punishment” with the thing and not the owner, it also needs to be a rare thing. Your dog should never cower at the sight of you. As for adding behaviors like house breaking or obedience training rewards are the freaking gold standard. Edit: grammer
I cared for a half-wolf for about 8 years. She was neither alpha nor beta nor omega, but simply a wonderful animal who wanted to be a part of our family. I also observed wolves in captivity and in the wild (from a distance). Pretty much everything about this new information makes total sense. I’ll add that wolves are beautiful, loving animals that have been cruelly demonised by popular culture. A wolf would have to be insane with hunger, or rabid, before it attacked a human. Now they’re being rounded up and exterminated in many areas of North America. It is absolutely obscene.
If you allow your dog to eat all day long… you will have a dog that thinks it’s in charge of you. If you go and see your dog before leaving for work, and check in with your dog as soon as you get home, you’re telling your dog they are in charge. To have a well behaved dog: ignore bad behaviour. Reward good behaviour with the dog’s name, a look at the dog, and/or petting. Feed the family, then feed the dog while the family brushes their teeth. Walk the dog immediately, minimum of 2 walks a day. The dog follows you, or can be abreast of you, not in the lead. Do these things, and you will have a happy dog who loves you. (Well, they will love you anyway… but they might be anxious or unhappy if you don’t)
There was also the con that the tobacco companies played with pop psychology regarding Alpha and Beta personalities type, promoted by two cardiologists Meyer Friedman and RH Rosenman. The Alphas type were more risk takers and had higher stress while the betas were more cautious and relaxed. So, if you were an Alpha or A personality type, your risk for heart attacks was much greater than a Beta or B personality type. To correct this they recommended smoking to relax a person, who would avoid potentially fatal heart attacks. This entire pop psychology promoted by two cardiologists was in response to the American Surgeon General declaring that smoking causes heart disease. Tabaco companies took a big hit in profits for six months after that revelations.
I am both embarrassed & pissed off at the same time. I believed those stories. They all seemed logical enough from a human perspective. We are, after all, in a sort of zoo. Though having known a few domesticated wolves personally, my viewpoint was somewhat different. I knew they had no such vicious streaks. There was nothing cold & calculating about them. Pitbulls have similar PR problems. They are in actuality sweethearts who sometimes mirror their owners faults. Wolves are the same although with a noticeable bit on the wild side. Chimps (our closest genetic cousins) on the other hand have a distinctly structured vicious side, as well documented in the wild, at zoos & with home domestication. Wolves, just like dogs, simply become one of the family. If the family is loving, then so is the wolf.
As somebody who works with dogs and studies canine psychology, it has never felt better being right. Dominance theory is horrendously outdated, since it is based on studies of captive wolf packs. Anybody who tries to be the ‘alpha’ and tries to show dominance by being a wolf, such as eating first, or not allowing dogs on a higher elevation than you, is doing it wrong, and actually runs the risk of creating behavioural issues.
Wolf’s play a vital role in the health of the prairies and forest of template/cold climate areas of the world. When they were introduced back into Yellowstone national parks, the whole are was rejuvenated, as they kept a chech of the herbivores of the land, therefore allowing new young trees to grow (willows), which at the same time purified the waters of rivers and streams running across the park.
All the respect, my friend. And that the people must understand that they are people, not wolves. 🙏 They can only imitate the vigilant traits, and never the evil traits of the wolves. Be good, be vigilant. Balto is a good example, half wolf or even the wolf itself, or not wolf. Never embrace evil, never to killing, stealing and destroying.
What a great vid. Thank you, Anton ! This really cheered me up. This whole ‘Alpha’ concept is very relevant in regards to the problems we’re having in America right now. The Right commonly refers to men on the Left as Betas, and the crazier side of the far Right absolutely believe & live by that mistaken concept, for example the hierarchical structure in organized white power groups. It’s a very sad situation, to be sure.
Unfortunately false beliefs from the past, will create false beliefs in present life and culture. Only we can change our beliefs, which are often influenced or contaminated by others. Glad the author took ownership of his error and realized that his past beliefs, created false judgment, fear & turmoil between 2 species, that could have been living in better harmony. In the end, it should have been observations & research on their life as a family, in freedom and being held against their will. Much respect to the author, for taking ownership of error & congrats for achieving your true results! Way better conclusion & definite peace btwn species, should be the beautiful end result. Thanks for this article! 👏
In my experience with animals, a high bias towards positive training, with very sparing negative training works best. Much better than both entirely positive training, or balanced or negative slanted training. Also, animals are individuals, so, you need to adapt & adjust somewhat to what works for a specific animal. Also, in any ‘group’ how you train one animal will affect the other animals. They observe and learn from their peers’ mistakes, and/or become envious of positive reinforcement. You can (should) be very minimalist with the rod, but discarding it entirely will leave you ill equipped to train “some” animals, and it will have negative consequences for both you and the animal.
I’m not sure this is correct there Anton. I’ve seen a variety of images, articles and similar showing alpha and omega type behavior in wild wolves. It is also seen in… MANY other animals, not least of which would be wild dogs, many primates, elephants, lions, and plenty more. This seems like modern historical revisionism to me. Go check Robert Sapolsky and Jane Goodall. Both study primates and both do in fact use the terminology of alphas, omegas and such. However, many of the words we use are not direct analogues for animal behavior. For example, in human society, we often hear alphas being referred to as hunting sexual partners. This is not accurate for actual behavior and alphas typically do not compete for female attention, they receive female attention. The ones who compete mostly for female attention are the betas. This is true in primate colonies as well. I’ve heard a few sources trying to discredit these ideas but they seem to be poorly researched and seem basically to be more like “postmodern contrarians” than practitioners of real science.
So in the wild, wolves behave as a family and in captivity with other unknown wolves form this alpha/dominance hierarchy. We talk dogs from their family and place them into captivity (our houses/yards) with other unknowns (us, and often other dogs) and yet they are supposed to then behave as a family? I think I missed a point somewhere.
Alpha Theory might not work for Wolves in the wild, but it works for other species of animals. Like Lions, Hyenas or Gorillas. Hyenas for example have a Matriarchal system with an Alpha Female leading the pack. There is a pretty good documentary “Lions Vs Hyena Endless War” that shows Lions and Hyenas fighting in Africa, and you clearly see the Alpha Male Lion fighting and eventually killing the Alpha Female Hyena. The then implication of the Death of the Leader of the Hyenas means that her daugther who would have become the next Alpha Female/Leader, is now on her own and has low chance of surviving and almost no chance of becoming an alpha female one day. This Theory might have started when studying wolves, but it certainly apply elsewhere in the animal kingdom. We already know that Social Hierachies are Natural: The Serotonin System that almost all animals have, going back all the way to Lobsters, tracks your position in the social hierarchy and so your hapiness/serotonin levels are directly linked to that. “Wanting to be the Alpha” is hardwired in most animals, including humans.
So why did you delete my comment? Did I say anything bad to offend you? All I said was that Alpha means the first as in the Greek alphabet, or was it that part were I said as in “I am the Alpha and the Omega” (I am the first and the last) because I see some one else said the same thing, or was it the part where I said “so we are not completely wrong??????????
So even if the previous model works, it works only with people who are in constant conflict with each other and trying to stay as much independent as they can amongst those, who are not relative to them. But if people begin to cooperate the old model becomes invalid to the situation, and they are more like a family. All this really works in theory, because we are primates, not canines, and this being the major argument against such ideas.
What is annoying about this it that we actually have know about this for a long time. It just that the people that study wolves have known about this. But the public have yet to catch up. Yet sadly the public often used the findings of old incorrect research (or rather, only correct in certain specific situations) and generalize and misinterpret it.
Hallo wonderful Anton! This is a great article, glad to see someone putting this information out there. A couple of things though. Military training has been the way it is for a long time. Longer than any books about wolves have been in circulation. You can go back thousands of years for examples of this. As for the term Alpha, beta, ect. These are things that also existed a long time before these books and studies on wolves were around. Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet. Now the usage you described definitely came about in more modern times, E.G. Alpha male and so forth. Thanks again for your work, and keep on keeping on!
The single minded focus required to protect, feed, and raise the young in the wild, the absence of distraction, and the natural pair bonding between the mother and father, offer lessons for modern humanity, lessons that may help us survive long enough to repair the damage we’ve wrought to the only home we’ve ever known.
Excellent. My family has for over 50 years owned a summer place about 7 km (as the raven flies) from Algonquin Park, Ontario, which as you probably know is a major center for wolf study. In that time I have heard them many times in the Park, but NEVER ONCE seen one. They have been very strictly protected for over 125 years, and their numbers are very consistent–they seem to have natural population control. Write to the Park for information about Public Wolf Howls (late July-August) and the absolutely unequaled canoeing in the Park. (Covid permitting)
Interesting that the Alpha male only exists in captivity and not in nature. Some people will probably argue that in our society the Alpha male is an obvious position in society and we all know at least one of them. Though I think this makes total sense considering society is a human zoo as pointed out by Desmond Morris in the 1960’s. I’ve witnessed this difference for myself with primates when I worked as a zookeeper. Our captive group of chimps behaved in a disturbingly similar way as social humans. It was confronting to see the Alpha commit rape, incite group attacks, murder, infanticide and promiscuous infidelity while the Beta chimps carried out theft and ostracised weaker members of their group. I was informed that most of those behaviours only exist in the captive situation. Returning back to dogs and their behaviour. While in my late teens and living on a large property dog shelter with 12 Staffordshires and 1 Cattle dog we were not able to assert which was the Alpha. They all got along, ate their meals the same time and there were no visible signs of jealousy when we joined them for play and cuddles. These dogs showed no preference or more respect toward a specific carer and we definitely never used the Alpha owner approach at the time because we simply weren’t aware that such an approach was applicable. We used positive reinforcement and rewards instead. This difference in approach to dog obedience may be why the Alpha owner method seems to fail. The information in this clip has ironed out the wrinkles in regards to animal behaviour theories that I was finding conflicting and questionable for a long time.
I disagree when you say the analogy doesn’t fit anymore, in light of the these recent discoveries. I believe humans today live imprisoned in alienating social structures and beliefs, not in a natural habitat, free of oppression. I believe we live today as caged wolves and as such we behave. So, it works to think in terms of “alphas” and “betas” although it surely isn’t the best accommodation we could put ourselves in.
So how messed up are the social structures of reintroduced wolves that had been raised by people before being released to the wild? I live in an area where they are releasing them but we keeping having lone wolves coming into town and stalking children at the bus stops…the kids have to wait for the bus in cages so they dont get attacked while waiting. A wolf was recently shot in town and the bleeding hearts are calling it murder! We now have a second lone wolf being sighted in town… I have been hearing rumors that some of the people on the wolf program have been going out and leaving dog food out for the wolves! But the people who have children, pets and livestock have no recourse, we have called to report the wolves in town multiple times but no one will do anything but put up cages for the children… I love the idea of wolves but the reality is much more terrifying when you can’t walk on your property without being armed.
Technically the older studies were not wrong. Just like the new study suggests, the Alpha concept is man-made and is needed to create a hierarchy… Wouldn’t the same situation occur in the ARMY or training of a new pet? You’re taking the pet from his family and inserting him into a new one, just ask Cesar the dog whisperer if you have to show a pack animal who is in charge? Just like the ARMY, your taking people from their homes and creating a melting pot of personalities into a new location to create a functioning team with 1 leader and 1 chain of command to be successful. Taking wolves and putting them in captivity you see the same activity. It may be man-made but it is not an incorrect observation.
i don’t know the origins of this theory, but it’s way older than the 70s. i remember reading a book called call of the wild by jack london when i was a kid, and it was published in 1903. and, if you think about it for a minute, it’s the kind of thing that indigenous tribes in north america or northern europe would come up with intuitively.
I’m not sure I can get behind the secondary conclusions. If the original research was based on observations of the pack in captivity…please explain how that differs from domestic dogs, and even military (or people in society, for that matter…though more of a fusion of the 2 conclusions). In those secondary applications, the original research stands, as the captivity aspect stands.
I’m confused. In wolf packs where there are multiple breeding pairs, say 10 adults and their puppies of various ages who may also be adults, how do the older, similarly ages wolves decide what to do? I get that most packs are smaller, basically family units, but there are lost of wolf packs of 30+ members that have been studied in NA where this is not the case.
If you’re struggling in the military it’s probably because you don’t understand your purpose, or you don’t want to accept your purpose. You’re expected to have instant willingness and obedience to orders, even if said order requires putting yourself in harms way, even if it doesn’t make sense to you. When bullets are flying, there’s no time to deal with people questioning tactics or the application of said tactics. Lives other than your own as well as lives you may not even realize is dependent on it. The term alpha male in the military is used to describe dominant men who naturally take control under pressure and welcome difficult tasks and thrive under pressure where most people don’t. Outside of the word itself, it has nothing to do with wolves.
Talk about what should have been painfully obvious from the beginning. Of course this also aligns with exactly what we’ve discovered about why pets love their owners: they see us as their parents. They naturally imprint on us when babies, but it’s not like they don’t figure out that we’re a different species. We just explicitly communicate the relationship we expect to have through training as they get older and start wanting independence. Training your animal is just establishing a consistent, predictable pattern of expectations that transcends the language barrier. Those expectations? I lead. You follow. You get good things. I teach. You listen. You get good things. I do this because I understand the world better than you and I care about you. It’s just parenting.
Look, it’s obvious that parents have greater authority than children, but within the same generations, there indeed are alphas, betas, etc. For instance, all adult siblings have a hierarchy from the most dominant to the least one, not from the oldest to the youngest. You’re conflating two completely different situations: family dynamics and group dynamics.
I cannot remember the guys name, but there was a study that came out decades ago about stable populations of rodents. The interesting part was the behavior when overcrowded. The scientist would create elaborate rat cities with ample food and opportunities for exercise. After a while the population peaks and juveniles start behaving antisocial. Adults start terrorizing weaker adults and juveniles. The research was about rodent populations, but it’s easy to extrapolate to other animals, and humans. In fact, the book ‘Secret of NIMH’ was inspired by it. As far as dogs go, I’ve had about a dozen dogs. I’ll admit I screwed up the first few because I grew up in the Southern US and lots of red faced older men told me I had to beat my dog. ‘Spare the rod’ and all that. Then I got older and raised my dog on my own advice, using positive reinforcement and social cues. Dogs crave social approval more than people do. They have to be part of the group. If you really want to punish a dog, just exclude it for a while. Even just 5 minutes. If you want a psychotic dog that never obeys you, beat it.
This is somewhat reminiscent of the belief that humans in hunter-gatherer societies lived pretty much egaliterian lives and also that they lived in small clannish communities. However as soon as civilization developed and groups grew beyond the 150 or so limit for knowing each other well, people reorganised into, often very rigid, hierarchical societies. Is there a connection I wonder? And going on further with this idea, it might make for interesting and useful research into the comparative mental health of woves in captivity and those in the wild if it hasn’t been done already. This could also have ramifications for human mental health …
Also the captive, non-family pack structure was wrong also. The “alphas” weren’t bullying, but outgoing like the kid going for class president. The “betas” were enforces ensuring other unrelated wolves abided by rules. “Omegas” were diplomats who ease tension by invoking sympathetic behavior from two other wolves, so that they stop being aggressive.
Updated studies of the true behavior of wild wolves have been around since 1999. The old studies from the 1930s gave birth to a lot of horrible dog training techniques. People forget the vast differences between dog and wolf. There are only a few breeds that exhibit wolf like tendencies. I applaud you for bringing this to light. I hope folks would eake up and realize the old adversive techniques brought about by idiots like Cezar Milan who still abide by those old studies of wolves DO NOT apply to dogs.
This is kinda old news and has been well known since the Yellowstone Wolf Project. The vast majority of wolfpacks consist of a mating pair (Alpha pair) and their offspring from the previous years. So there are no Beta or Omega wolves in the wild. However, this is just the norm, but there are definitely exceptions. Wolves can leave their packs, join other packs, form new packs, etc. In these situations, the same kind of hierarchy still exists and is enforced. At least in the vast majority of cases. The Yellowstone Wolf Project has shown us a whole lot of interesting behavior from wild wolves.
The hierarchy still applies, when outside of the family. People (and wolves) in a new & unfamiliar environment, surrounded by new & unfamiliar faces, still tend to fall in to some sort of pecking order. Women still look for a strong, intelligent male who is most likely to be able to provide for her needs (whatever they may be), and vice-versa. It’s very fractal, and can change dramatically depending on the individual & the situation. Sometimes it’s non-existent. Sometimes it’s blatantly obvious. In many family units, a hierarchy is still very apparent. The father is typically the Alpha, or head of the household. The mother would be the Beta/Bravo/ second in command. I don’t believe Mech was simply wrong about everything. He just didn’t have a complete understanding. Does anybody really have a complete understanding of anything? We are always observing & adapting. The day we stop learning is the day we stop growing.
Omg this is so cool. Its just amazing how little we know about these beautiful creatures that have lived alongside us for thousands of years. Bunny the talking dog with her buttons illustrates this, she’s even aware of time (yesterday, today, tomorrow; morning, afternoon, evening) and is currently having an existential crisis (“when I grow up, will I become a human like you too, mum?”). Amazing. Can’t wait for Bunny’s (and Billi the cats) research to come out.
I agree that the alpha way of thinking was a large part of the military in the past but it actually has started changing recently, a great example is the change in the Army’s indoctrination. Since Vietnam the Army used a method called the shark attack in boot camp to assert dominance with recruits, instead they now use team building exercises to create a sense that everyone is part of a single unit, you could almost say it develops a “family” like environment.
No alpha doesn’t come from usage of wolves. It comes from Greeks getting their letter α, which evolved from the Semitic letter Aleph א, which comes from the Egyptian hieroglyph logogram for the letter A, and it means “ox,cow” which is why it’s an abstract picture of an upside down ox head, it originally was right side up, ehciubis ejy aleph also means “power” and the aleph is used in the word for god in proto Canaanite “El” or “Al” spelled aleph lamed אל.
Alpha comes from phoenician “Aleph” which means Ox 🐂 (maybe also from Egyptian hieroglyphs), the symbol is literally the simplification of an ox face . Aleph symbol is inherited by many languages “alphabet ” including greek arab hebrew as their FIRST letter. Now whether this points toward symbolism of an ox in terms of strength or in nature in terms of leading group of wild animal, this just means the concept is way deeper in history than recent writings about wolves. Maybe there are overlaps back and forth between the first symbole and the position in many alphabets throughout history . But very unlikely that the modern alpha concept is first used by recent centuries of litterature.
I’ve always thought of canines as having the ideal emotional makeup. Humans can only aspire to it. What you’re saying doesn’t surprise me at all. In fact, it surprises me that abusive relationships in wolf packs were once thought to be the norm. Humans are more akin to the great apes. We’re not naturally monogamous. Males are not naturally the nurturing parents for children. These are things ingrained in us by social convention.
I think it still applies in general, if not by default in nature. It does happen in specific conditions, but our society is built on those specific conditions. Humans don’t just exist only in a family, but multiple groups, such as school, work, Sports etc. Whatever group you end up with, there’s usually one or more ppl that take charge, while others go along with it – esp if someone is insecure/submissive. In BDSM spectrum, there’s people who actively seek out someone to take charge, and control their lives, as a form of security. There’s people who will seek leadership roles, and people who avoid it, not wanting the responsibility. If we lived in similar natural environment as these wolves, we’d Obviously act the same – as such, wolves would also live in such packs as we do, in our societies, which is what happened and what we expected, since it’s how we live. If a president speak, the country follow. If a cop arrest you, you follow. Now ofc there’s people that misuse the term, calling themselves alpha, just because they are masculine with a bloated ego – it has nothing to do with any leadership qualities. They are just psychologically overcompensating for lack of power, by opressing ppl, to give themselves a sense control and power. We use these terms cause they exist, even if it doesn’t have anything to do with wolves – we could drop the Wolf part and just call it Guardian/leader/boss/teacher, or loner/reclusive/introvert. We invent new words all the time, and change the meaning of others.
I know this is an older article. But how does the fact that most wolf packs are families change anything? Yes, that means that if wolf packs are families, then the parents are the alphas. The parents still correct their offspring for inappropriate behaviors. They still demand respect. It’s just easier and less dramatic to teach puppies as they grow than grouping random wolves together. And no, not all wolf packs are just families. There’s a documentary a saw recently on some white wolves in which an unrelated female joined the pack. The new female was put at the bottom of the pecking order. She ate last, became the babysitter and protector for the pups, and sadly ended up dying in the end from lack of food in the harsh environment. She gave her life for puppies that were not even hers. Positive only dog training is starting to die as people realize its not working and is getting dogs put down. Treats don’t fix major issues. When you get a dog or puppy, you become the parent at that point. And it’s up to you to guide and teach the dog how to be respectful. Parents don’t (or shouldn’t) put up with inappropriate behaviors.
Same thing in prison alpha beta etc. I noticed observing and keeping to myself it was better than trying to be something I’m not when so called alphaaprouche I let have the moment but in the long being quiet and is the smart thing silent and waiting to capitalize on things like a wolf or bear just wait you get your chance I grew up raising wolf half breed and I’ll tell you instinct don’t leave showing dominating techniques is necessary but the top dont last wolves know this and it will change over and again in any pack th oh s guy is correct in what he is saying
I wouldnt say we were entirely wrong, since in order to domesticate dogs we would have had to take them into captivity, likely one at a time from several different packs. Artificially creating this social structure, and so we still had to take the role of alpha to domesticate them, our error was thinking that thats how they always worked, without questioning how they act outside of captivity.
In short, we observed wolves in artificial conditions and declared it as natural because it mirrored our “natural” social structure under our current hyper hierarchical system and thus could be used as an excuse/justification against any suggestion for an alternative as this missconception could be used as an appeal to nature.
I’m sorry but I’m pretty sure militaries were hierarchically structured long before that dude ever released his erroneous wolf book in the 1970’s. Seems to me he projected our hierarchical social structure on to wolves rather than we adopted his erroneous conceptualization of the hierarchical structure of wolves on to human institutions.
Alphas take fights they can lose. The body is not alpha, its the mind. Therefore they test untested grounds. Everyone is essential, but as such, the fact that there is only one alpha means they are the ones taking the biggest risk to their own well being. Hope alphas understand this is the time to enjoy life from time to time. Exploration is one of those things to explore. For the sake of your pack, dont take unnecessary risks unless youre saving your loved ones.
I don’t think the term Alpha is necessarily wrong, Alpha is just first, A, B, C/1, 2, 3. So the oldest pair would be the Alpha male/female of the family. Alphas don’t have to be Alpha through force. I have known for years that Wolves mate for life and are loyal. I did not know that the pack was all family, but I did know I had never seen anything showing any violence amongst pack members in the wild. I have respected Wolves for many years and felt we could learn from them.
Dominance hierarchies exist everywhere in nature. I would agree they are snapshots, and do not allow for the evolution of rank. As young grow and alphas die ( or become week and leave) new ranks are formed. However, I don’t think Mech was wrong. He simply didn’t include enough information in his analysis.
In Indiana in the 70s there was a lot of timber wolves around the farm. My dad went out to hunt the wolves and as it got dark he went back home. The next morning he went back out and in his footsteps in the snow he found wolf tracks. The wolves were hunting him as he was hunting them. That was the first and only time he ever went wolf hunting.
I think ur a bit delulu. They are walking in a formation like that to step in each others paw prints. Yes the lead pair usually will stay at the back at times but there is no such thing as “women of a pack” and any pups would be left at the den with adolescents wandering off and getting distracted more than anything. Male and female wolves and treated fairly similar within a pack especially in terms of hunting, fighting, etc. Believe it or not wolves are actually matriarchal as said in Yellowstone wolves by Jane Goodall. There is no alpha, there is a breeding pair. Wo