Turns out the existence of an "alpha" wolf is a myth.
It was based on old/bad experiments, conducted when unrelated wolves were thrown together in captivity.
In actual wild wolves, packs are just families. There's no dominant alpha battling for the top spot -- and in the rare cases there is, it's an alpha *female* wolf.
Insert obvious implications for the use of this term in human societies.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-the-alpha-wolf-idea-a-myth/
@mimsical I thought this was fairly well known now- as that article says, the person who created the term has been fighting against it for decades, realizing that not only was he wrong initially (on a few vectors) but the entire concept as he wrote it has been wildly misunderstood.
I don't blame him, mind you- this is how theories are put out and tested.
It's mostly just unfortunate that this is something people think.
It does mean you can mostly just assume anyone using alpha is an idiot.
Christopher Mims
Oggie