The most beloved characteristic
of dogs is surely their loyalty, their ability to seemingly overlook our
poor, indifferent, or even abusive behavior and treat us well. It’s not
for nothing we consider the dog our “best friend.” This loyalty we
prize highly in the dog comes from the much maligned wolf.
For the wolf, a social animal, loyalty is a given. The leaders of the
pack, the alpha pair, depend on their grown children in hunting,
feeding, guarding pups, holding territory, and defending against
attacking rivals.
As a species,
wolves, just as we humans, are in a special group of predators who hunt
animals larger than themselves by being organized groups with social
structures and division of labor. Other mammals in this elite category
are African painted dogs, lions, spotted hyenas, several dolphins, and
certain killer whales. In this context, it seems a little unfair, if not
downright ironic, for any human to think wolves are somehow
intrinsically “bad” and not to be tolerated.
We humans, however, have zealously appropriated the term “alpha” as in
“alpha wolf” to describe humans we think are dominant through
fear-inducing aggressiveness. Yet what distinguishes an alpha wolf is
not that, but rather what Rick McIntyre, an expert on alpha wolves, says
is “quiet confidence” and “quiet self-assurance.” The alpha has a
calming effect. The alpha wolf decides, for instance, what the pack will
do and when; who will breed and who won’t; who will be accepted and who
won’t.
Typically, a male has no
need to be aggressive. The only time he might be more assertive is
during mating season when the No. 2 guy might approach the breeding
alpha female (who usually is the only one to breed) and the alpha male
warns him off with a snarl or a showing of teeth, or simply a look. The
alpha wolf communicates rank, not a desire to hurt.
As McIntyre says, “Minimal violence promotes group cohesion and
cooperation. That’s what a pack needs. The alphas set the example.”
As Doug Smith, another wolf expert at Yellowstone, points out, there
are two hierarchies in a pack, one for males and one for females. The
alpha female is actually the one who makes the most decisions. She
decides where to travel, when to rest, what route to take, when to hunt,
and where to den.
The most famous
alpha wolf of all time at Yellowstone National Park (according McIntyre)
is a wolf named Twenty-One. Known as Superwolf, he never lost a fight.
But, most significantly, he never killed a defeated opponent. One could
say Twenty-One was magnanimous. By not killing, he increased his status
because not killing demonstrates tremendous confidence. Look at human
history’s highest-status leaders. They’re not men like Hitler and
Stalin, but rather Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
We seem to be especially virulent in our fear and hatred of wolves.
Certainly we’re woefully ignorant about them. For those who would like
to read more about the specific wolves of Yellowstone, I recommend the
ecologist Dr. Carl Safina’s latest book, “Beyond Words: What Animals
Think and Feel.”
To gain a more
objective perspective on wolves than we typically find in American
media, I recommend a film the Chinese government tried to quash called
“Wolf Totem.” This film shows the wisdom of the native Mongolian
sheepherders in their (mostly futile) fight to maintain the wolf
population instead of driving them to extinction.
Ursula Carlson, Ph.D., is professor emerita at Western Nevada College.
All facts cited above derive from Safer’s “Beyond Words.”
No comments:
Post a Comment