John Paul Scott (of Scott & Fuller) has written, "There is considerable confusion in the literature concerning wolves between the concepts of dominance and leadership; the most dominant animal in the pack being called the 'pack leader,' although this animal is rarely a leader in the sense of setting or signaling an example that is followed by others. Movements of wild wolf packs are often coordinated, but may be initiated by almost any adult.”

Dr. L. David Mechof the University of Minnesota, who has spent his entire career studying wild wolves in their natural habitats, writes, “In captive packs dominance labels were probably appropriate, for most species thrown together in captivity would usually so arrange themselves. In nature, however, the wolf pack is not such an assemblage.”
“The concept of the alpha wolf as a ‘top dog’ ruling a group of similar-aged compatriots is particularly misleading.” Mech and his colleagues are also reluctant to use the word alpha because, as they put it, “It falsely implies a hierarchical system in which a wolf assumes a place in a linear pecking order.”

Dr. Karen Overall of the University of Pennsylvania writes, “The ‘alpha’ concept is an outdated one with almost no data to support it. There are no truly ‘submissive’ or ‘dominant/alpha’ dogs, and by [using] these labels we blind ourselves to all of the interesting information that dogs are communicating with [their] postures.”

Or we could all listen to some hairy guy with a sad collection of half-tamed wolves and a book deal.

C&D

I thought the yellowstone wolves were reintroduced into the park not that long ago after there being none there for a long time?? If that is the case then they are not a natural pack in a natural environment, it is an artificail environment with far too much prey because there havent been enough hunters in the past. That means that at the moment the wolves there are not in a stable relationship with the environment and so it is not a natural situation

I havent seen much work done on packs of dogs gone wild but the main quote I seem to remember was that dogs tend to form loose packs around a bitch in heat - all or any of whom will attempt to mate with the bitch - and the 'pack' disbands when the bitch is no longer in heat
Really sounds nothing like a wolf pack

You have completely misread what Mech writes. In fact, I would go as far as saying that you are going out of your way to distort his findings and conclusions. How could you possibly say that Yellowstone model is without our intervention. Those wolves were captured in Canada and then seeded in the protected area of YNP. And as far as Ellesmere Island is concerned you must have it confused with something else, there is no population explosion. Ellesmere has a population of less than 200 people and 196,235 km2 making it bigger than England (130,395 km2) and slightly smaller than the total area of Great Britain.

I've only seen it short clips on the net and during a few trips.

Perhaps there is some confusion between Ellsemere Island in the arctic circle which Mech visited every summer during the 80s and 90s and Isle Royale (in lake michigan was it) where he studied as a student and in his early career- here the wolves were trapped on the island and suffered from inbreeding after a population boom and a decline in line with the over stretching of resources?

I agree-yellowstone is still an artifical situation. The wolves here have little to fear and plenty of prey. They are also 'managed' when they reach the limit park. The worst part is that they are partly habituated to humans, who leave hamburgers in the hope of getting a wolf to come over for a photo opportunity.

I way behind with responding to all the very interesting posts on here recently, but whilst catching up this one called out for a response !

The Yellowstone wolves were introduced ... BUT THEN LEFT ALONE ... to breed, form packs and thrive.

As for Ellesmere, I never said there had been a population explosion - you must have misunderstood what I was saying. Just the opposite - the living is poor on Ellesmere, this is the whole point that Mech was making ! BECAUSE the living was so poor, the wolves were living in what could be described as the "new model" state (because unfortunately due to man's persecution, wolves have been driven away from desirable places like Yellowstone, to undesirable places such as Ellesmere).

I don't believe I have misunderstood the point that Mech was making. And neither am I trying to twist or misinterpret his words.

He has changed his view of the concept of alpha male and alpha female wolf because of his observances made whilst living and observing wild wolves on Ellesmere. He then goes on in the Alpha Wolf article I read to point out that the packs living in Yellowstone were very different ... because they have thrived through the lack of man's intervention and the good living.

Work calls, so I have to go, but I'll try to get on here later if I can.

I wish I had more time to debate this but I am in the middle of revising for exams and so can only pop in with very short posts (well shortish!)

I don't see how you can interpret that from Mech's writing and I think he'd be quite shocked if he heard that you had I don't think you can say one particular group denotes "correct" model! Particularly as it's unusually large and has no predators itself, which is not natural .

Man has always been a predator of the wolf and so the Yellowstone "protected" pack isn't normal as the natural predator isn't around ...

"Natural" is surely everywhere wolves are, whether it's Ethiopia, Europe or Ellesmere or Yellowstone - each group will adapt anyway to the environment or else cease to exist. I don't think we can say one group is more "real" than another.

I see, phew...was worried for a moment...

He says Yellowstone is unusual in the world because itis very large, and so has several parent groups and they could be referred to as alphas ... I can't quite remember the exact details of his video but I do recall him pretty much sounding as if the alpha term was being stretched in that context...

Wys
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Nice one from Dr Overall there ...

Wys
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