Alpha status, dominance, and division of labor in wolf packs
Abstract
The prevailing view of a wolf (Canis lupus) pack is that of a group of individuals ever vying for dominance but held in check by the "alpha" pair, the alpha male and alpha female. Most research on the social dynamics of wolf packs, however, has been conducted on non-natural assortments of captive wolves. Here I describe the wolf-pack social order as it occurs in nature, discuss the alpha concept and social dominance and submission, and present data on the precise relationships among members in free-living packs, based on a literature review and 13 summers of observations of wolves on Ellesmere Island, Northwest Territories, Canada. I conclude that the typical wolf pack is a family, with the adult parents guiding the activities of the group in a division-of-labor system in which the female predominates primarily in such activities as pup care and defense and the male primarily during foraging and food-provisioning and the travels associated with them.
Résumé
La notion généralement acceptée d'une meute de Loups gris (Canis lupus) est celle d'un groupe d'individus qui convoitent continuellement la dominance mais qui voient leurs ambitions inhibées par le couple « alpha », le mâle alpha et la femelle alpha. Cependant, la recherche sur la dynamique sociale des loups se fait généralement sur des groupes non naturels de loups en captivité. Je décris ici l'ordre social des meutes de loups en nature, j'examine le concept alpha, le concept de dominance sociale et de soumission et je présente des données sur les relations réelles entre les membres de meutes vivant en liberté d'après une révision de la littérature et des observations directes de loups pendant 13 étés dans l'île d'Ellesmere, Territoires du Nord-Ouest, Canada. J'ai conclu qu'une meute typique est une famille dans laquelle les parents adultes dirigent les activités du groupe selon un système de partage des tâches, où la femelle prédomine surtout dans les activités de parentage et de défense des petits et le mâle, surtout au cours des activités de quête de nourriture et d'accumulation de réserves et au cours des déplacements que supposent ces activités.[Traduit par la Rédaction]
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Published In
Canadian Journal of Zoology
Volume 77 • Number 8 • November 1999
Pages: 1196 - 1203
History
Version of record online: 15 February 2011
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L David Mech. 1999. Alpha status, dominance, and division of labor in wolf packs. Canadian Journal of Zoology.
77(8): 1196-1203. https://doi.org/10.1139/z99-099
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