The Myth of the Alpha Wolf: Understanding Real Wolf Behaviour in the Wild by Elianne van Turennout

The idea of the alpha wolf, a dominant leader fighting his position in the pack, is deeply ingrained in our imagination. However, this concept turns out to be largely fiction. The term 'alpha wolf' was first introduced by Rudolph Schenkel, an animal behaviourist, who published the article "Expressions Studies on Wolves" in 1947. Schenkel based his findings on wolves in captivity, which distorted their natural behaviour.

Recent studies of wolf behaviour in the wild, such as David Mech's, have shown that the structure of wolf packs is different than originally thought. In 1999, Mech published his paper "Alpha Status, Dominance and Division of Labour in Wolf Packs" in the Canadian Journal of Zoology. This research marked a turning point in our understanding of wolf packs and refuted the idea of the alpha wolf as described by Schenkel.

The term 'alpha wolf' originated from observations of wolves in captivity. In the 1930s and 1940s, Rudolph Schenkel studied wolves at Basel Zoo. He tried to identify a sociology of the wolf and concluded that there was a clear hierarchy with an alpha wolf at the top. These findings received a lot of attention and the idea of the alpha wolf soon became widely accepted.

Subsequent studies of wolves in their natural habitat have shown that this picture is not correct. David Mech and other behavioural scientists have found that wolf packs rather function as family groups, with the so-called 'alpha wolf' simply being the parental figure. These wolves lead by example and care, rather than by aggression and dominance.