Ok so I was having a discussion with some one on line and wolves came up. He claims that wolf packs don't actually have pecking orders in the wild. So I thought I would ask people who should know. What do you think?
You can find multiple articles online saying the alpha male idea was a myth.

Not a myth on my trapline.

The term ALPHA was coined by Dave Mech........famed wolf biologist on Isle Royale. He has since said he regrets ever using the term because it implies that an individual wolf is born as an 'alpha'. He says this is absolutely not the case. and the better term would be the "dominant" individual or "dominant pair" or best of all, the "breeding pair".

There clearly is a social structure within a pack but it does have some flexibility to respond to habitat and age/sex structure of each pack.


The best book on the subject that I have read is here:


https://www.amazon.com/Wolves-Behavior-Conservation-David-Mech/dp/0226516970


Gulo would have the most valuable input on this subject IMO

from what i have read up on most packs consist of mom and dad and that years litter and left overs from the previous years litter and maybe an aunt or uncle also packs will gather together to make larger packs usually to bring down larger prey or to make hunting more efficent but even than im willing to bet both packs are closely related

Depends on what you think "alpha" means. I always translated alpha=dominant, as White stated, and there is generally always a dominant male wolf. Not sure what could be a "myth" about that. Now if you tried to translate from all those werewolf books with the barechested guy on the cover, yeah "alpha" probably means something like "born superior" or "born to lead", and they have a beta and an omega and possibly a cum laude. . . yeah, that is a myth.

In any group of wolves, there will be a definite pecking order. Some are more dominant and some are more submissive. That pecking order can change over time. Dynamic, not static.

By the way, its not just wolves. If you have 6 or 7 Chihuahua dogs in a group (pack?!!), they will exhibit the same pecking order.

Same thing with a dog team! Most wheel dogs are just waiting to kick some butt and move up in the order!

In fact, if you have a "group" of just TWO canines, one will be dominant (the "alpha...")

Pete

Thanks. That's exactly what the guy was trying to claim, that research shows no pecking order in wild wolves. It doesn't sound right to me because what social animals don't have a pecking order?
I wonder if it's just something that's being pushed to make wolves sound more lovable and cuddly.

Ya think?!!!!!

Wolves are cuddly little cannibals.
Often when a pack is stressed any wolf that shows weakness becomes lunch.This could be any wolf-young or old.

Same with humans.

This is true. Long ago a wildlife trooper explained to me that when approaching a group of offenders he had to be able to pick out the leader and that was the guy to confront

https://sciencenorway.no/a/1850514

Here's an article from April on the subject, and I had a different one pop up in one of my suggested feeds the other day.

Anyone that has spent any time trapping wolves know that the APLHA wolf is not a myth. If you have come to the conclusion that it is a myth you need to spent time in the wilderness and not in the propaganda of the animal rights groups!!!

I have had the privilege spening almost 50 years and many hundreds of miles on snow covered trails observing wolf tracks, that's where the story begins!. It didn't take long to realize that they are a formidable opponent! Unlike the harnessed dog team that Pete talks about that needs to be harnessed to perform, wolves have one objective in life and that is to survive the most efficiently way and that is to eat. The structure of an alpha provides that! Surviving as a pack with leadership provides that structure.

My observations are that the wolves would follow in single file when traveling, unlike dogs who would be all over the place. When they would hunt part of the pack would split up working a drainage for food. I have caught wolves within minutes of coming down the trail and heard the pack talking to the caught one. I have walked many miles of wolf trails hanging snares and what I learned doing that isn't in any book. By the way I have had great success snaring that way. I have NEVER observed a small paw print in the lead where a pack has been, ALWAYS LARGE PRINTS and I believe that is the ALPHA. And size does matter to an observer! Early one morning just at daylight a group of Caribou crossed in front of my trail and when I pulled up on my snow machine at the crossing of the Caribou tracks there were very large wolf tracks and the wolves were right in the group of caribou probably eating at will.

As Dean Wilson would say " wolves are smart and incredibly lucky" and if you have spent any time trapping wolves you know Dean was right!

Thank You
Snap