MOS: The Myth of the Alpha Dog

Ever hear a guy say that he’s a ‘total alpha’?

Scientifically speaking, he’s a total douche.

Today’s Moment of Science… the myth of alpha wolves.

The dynamics of dominance hierarchies vary from species to species. Elder blue-footed booby siblings dole out the noogies to their little siblings, and chickens have literal pecking orders. Most species have dominant male hierarchies. However, there are various types of female-based hierarchies in nature, like worker-queen systems for some insect species. 

Notably, our evolutionary cousin the bonobos are a female dominant society, a likely plot by antifa to destroy masculinity. Obviously.

Though we think of dominance as ‘better,’ it comes with drawbacks. The great tits- uh, the bird species- have ‘high ranking’ animals with a higher metabolism and larger food requirement. Which is easy enough to come by for a human who can drive their ass to 7-Eleven, but wild great tits need to throw themselves around for their food, even dominant wild great tits. 

Dominant animals in species like bonobos have higher levels of hormones with an immunosuppressant effect. Which makes it sound like a bad idea to fight with an alpha great ape because they’re hopped up on testosterone and they’re here for a good time, not a long time.

So, about ‘alphas.’

In 1947, Rudolph Schenkel published a groundbreaking paper called ‘Expression Studies on Wolves.’ He studied captive wolves in Switzerland’s Zoo Basel to better understand wolf behavior. He observed that packs had a dominant “bitch wolf” and “lead (male) wolf.” They would face off in little wolf thunderdomes with other members of their sex to protect their status and compare who had the biggest muscles and the best shoes.

To be fair, we knew shit about wolf behavior at the time. Anything past “wolf says woof” was new information.”

The paper could have faded into obscurity, only to be discussed amongst experts in the field as are most scientific papers. Instead, in 1970 biologist L. David Mech wrote a book titled The Wolf: Ecology and Behaviour of an Endangered Species. Mech had also done observational studies of wolves for his PhD and seen what he thought to be the same behavior of competing for dominance. 

Extrapolating the study to all species, some humans have been insufferably calling themselves ‘alpha males’ ever since. 

However, in 1999, Mech published a new paper. 

In ‘Alpha Status, Dominance, and Division of Labor in Wolf Packs,’ a lot of assumptions are revisited. The ‘lead’ male and female? Those turned out to be what scientists call ‘parents.’ 

In the wild, wolf packs don’t assemble from a bunch of unrelated wolves with special talents coming together to defeat Thanos (but I would subscribe to that newsletter). Wolf packs are just two parent wolves raising their pups until they go off and start packs of their own. The wolf pups don’t fight to be in charge of anything, they often just wrestle with their siblings to play. Or maybe they have one sibling they’re trying to punch in the dick for amusement, I don’t know their life.

Looking back, Schenkel mentioned in his original work that it was “possible” the wolf packs were parents with their pups. But “it might be a family” was nowhere near as interesting as “behold, the alpha and the bitch.”

Mech has been trying to get the original book out of print for years, to no avail. 

Until that happens, if you hear a guy proudly declare himself both an ‘alpha male’ and a ‘rational thinker,’ ask when he’s gonna think rationally about giving up on the myth of the alpha male.

This has been your Moment of Science, wishing there were even more birds named after the festive bits of anatomy.

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About SciBabe 375 Articles
Yvette d'Entremont, aka SciBabe, is a chemist and writer living in North Hollywood with her roommate, their pack of dogs, and one SciKitten. She bakes a mean gluten free chocolate chip cookie and likes glitter more than is considered healthy for a woman past the age of seven.

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