Pack Take over in Canis lupus

What is most interesting in the behavior to accept this new wolf into the fractured pack is that much of it involves behaviors associated with play. The male also spent much of his time standing in his “alert” or “presentation” posture, and his predominate play was run and chase. The play behavior is not as common in adults, particularly between unfamiliar adults from adjacent territories. It would be expected that in this situation that more dominating or aggressive behavior would be seen from the male initially, and perhaps from the adult females who should be weary because they have pups nearby. Most surprisingly, it’s actually a pup that first makes physical contact with the male first. Although one of the females is always watching over the pups, two of them are allowed to wonder close enough to this new male to act submissively. The play behavior itself may be a better way for the wolves to cautiously begin to accept each other. It also would allow the wolves to test each other, in this case for the female to determine if this new male is good enough to be a breeder, and that his initial temperament towards the pups may have a part of this decision. The males’ behavior is less curious, as his posture is somewhat dominant, and by standing in this posture he allows the members of the pack to approach him. It is still curious that it isn’t until the end when he is interacting with the beta female that he begins physically using dominant behavior. Maybe he shows more physical behavior for the time he is in the bushes, but it is still curious that he does little sniffing when the pups roll over for him. This may be explained as the male not wanting to scare the pack away, or frighten them into a fight, in which he would be outnumbered, because just starting dominant behavior in front of pups may end up worrying the adult females. Throughout this ritual the male remains calm and non-threatening, which may be a function in keeping the females calm and non-violent.

timber wolves. American Zoologist. 7: 331-338.

Wolf dominance has been well studied. In these older studies, a clearly defined hierarchy was found. At the top are an alpha male and an alpha female that usually lead a pack of 6-8 wolves (Harrington 1983). Next there is the beta male and females, and finally, if the pack is large enough, omega males and females. In this pack, only the alpha wolves breed, while the others help hunt, defend territory and look after the young. Since only the alpha wolves breed, the betas often compete and challenge the alpha’s for dominance (Raab 1967). There are also other perks to being the breeding, or alpha male or female. The breeding pair often eats first, then afterwards control which other wolves get access to the food.

Some topics in this essay:
Rothman Mech, Van Ballenberghe, Gese Mech, Introduction Dominance, Takeover Mech, David Mech, Hierarchy Wolf, Theberge Falls, Mech LD, Journal Zoology, breeding pair, leave pack, mech 1999, alpha male, wolf pack, breeding female, play behavior, dominant wolf, alpha female, breeding male, canadian journal zoology, american zoologist 7, offspring leave pack, et al 2002, stahler et al,