Dr. David Mech says he is to blame for the term ALPHA being used incorrectly today. In 1970, he wrote a book in which he’d labelled the “top wolf” as Alpha. In the many years since then, all 47 of them, Dr. Mech and other scientist have learned so much about wolf dynamics. Dr. Mech now recants what he originally said about wolf dynamics. Wolf packs are a family, with a family dynamic and members work together. There is no Alpha Wolf trying to dominate the rest of the pack.
Dr. David Mech had based his original wolf pack theory on a pack of wolves living in captivity.
In 2010, 33 miners were trapped for 69 days in a mine in northern Chile. You may remember having heard about it on the news, or you may have seen the movie about it (called The 33). What kind of conclusions would scientists make about human dynamics if those 33 men were the subject of their study?
“Actually, you know, I am very much to blame for the term Alpha being used with wolves. I published a book in 1970 that now has over 110 ooo copies in circulation. And in that I labelled the top wolf in the pack the Alpha. And I did that because at that time, that’s all that science knew. But, we’ve learned a lot. That book was published in 1970 and in the 35 years since that time we’ve learned a lot. One of these things we’ve learned is that the term Alpha is really incorrect when applied to most wolf pack leaders.” – Dr. David Mech (Senior Research Scientist)
