WEBVTT - How Do Wolf Packs Work?

0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:08.400
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff florin volgebam.

0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:12.559
<v Speaker 1>Here you can find all sorts of high school and

0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:17.560
<v Speaker 1>college athletic programs named after wolves, and why not in

0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:21.200
<v Speaker 1>a mascot battle, North Carolina State University's Mister Wolf would

0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:25.240
<v Speaker 1>surely vanquish Sammy the slug of University of California Santa Cruz.

0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:29.640
<v Speaker 1>But furthermore, gray wolves do tend to organize themselves into

0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:33.559
<v Speaker 1>social groups known as packs, with multiple animals cooperating and

0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:39.360
<v Speaker 1>hunting together, a great metaphor for sports teamwork. But in nature,

0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:43.479
<v Speaker 1>wolf packs operate very differently than most people think. One

0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:49.080
<v Speaker 1>of the biggest misconceptions involves their power structures. ALFA wolf

0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:51.120
<v Speaker 1>is a term that gets tossed around in a lot

0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:54.360
<v Speaker 1>of popular culture. The concept as we know it today

0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:57.200
<v Speaker 1>can be traced back to a nineteen forty seven study

0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:01.600
<v Speaker 1>written by animal behaviorist Rudolph Schneckel. According to this study,

0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:04.160
<v Speaker 1>a wolf packs are led by an alpha male and

0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.360
<v Speaker 1>an alpha female, which rule the roost by fighting the

0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:10.160
<v Speaker 1>other wolves for dominance until they've clawed their way up

0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:15.080
<v Speaker 1>the pecking order. A Schneckel wrote, by continuously controlling and

0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:18.559
<v Speaker 1>suppressing all types of competition within the same sex. Both

0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:23.959
<v Speaker 1>alpha animals defend their social position. He also posited that

0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:27.240
<v Speaker 1>the alpha wolves outrank beta wolves, who in turn looked

0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:33.640
<v Speaker 1>down on submissive omega wolves. All very hierarchical. This belief

0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:36.720
<v Speaker 1>that every wolf pack is a dog eat dog environment

0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:40.000
<v Speaker 1>where some members are constantly vying to climb the ranks

0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:44.160
<v Speaker 1>by aggressive means has been repeated in countless wildlife documentaries

0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:48.240
<v Speaker 1>and nonfiction books over the past seventy odd years. Our

0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:51.520
<v Speaker 1>colleagues at Houstuff Works even repeated that idea when we

0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:54.080
<v Speaker 1>first published the article this episode is based on back

0:01:54.120 --> 0:02:00.360
<v Speaker 1>in two thousand and eight. However, it is misleading. Bencke's

0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:04.520
<v Speaker 1>nineteen forty seven paper was describing two wolf packs in captivity.

0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:08.640
<v Speaker 1>His study specimens were unrelated animals that had been brought

0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:11.880
<v Speaker 1>together at a Swiss zoo where they shared an enclosure

0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:15.280
<v Speaker 1>measuring only about two thousand square feet or two hundred

0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:19.440
<v Speaker 1>square meters. N Schneckel didn't study any wild wolves at

0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:24.920
<v Speaker 1>the time, unlike their counterparts at this particular zoo, a

0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:29.560
<v Speaker 1>natural wolf packs mainly consist of genetic relatives. They also

0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:32.799
<v Speaker 1>take up way more space patrolling territories of one thousand

0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:36.480
<v Speaker 1>square miles or about twenty five hundred square kilometers or

0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:42.240
<v Speaker 1>even more. Because they don't live under the artificial constraints

0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:46.200
<v Speaker 1>that Schneckel observed, wild wolves usually organize themselves in a

0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:52.000
<v Speaker 1>way that's less competitive. A noted wolf researcher, David Meck,

0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:55.559
<v Speaker 1>published a book in nineteen seventy that used the alpha terminology,

0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:59.520
<v Speaker 1>and more recently updated his views based on more current

0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:02.880
<v Speaker 1>scientific understanding. In a video from two thousand and eight,

0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:06.840
<v Speaker 1>he said the term alpha isn't really accurate when describing

0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:10.120
<v Speaker 1>most of the leaders of wolf packs because it implies

0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:12.920
<v Speaker 1>that the wolves fought and competed strongly to get to

0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:15.920
<v Speaker 1>the top of the pack. In actuality, the way they

0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:17.960
<v Speaker 1>get there is by mating with the member of the

0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:21.000
<v Speaker 1>opposite sex, producing a bunch of offspring, which are the

0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:24.160
<v Speaker 1>rest of the pack, then and becoming the natural leaders

0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:27.160
<v Speaker 1>that way, just like with a pair of humans producing

0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:33.120
<v Speaker 1>a family. Don't get us wrong, the alpha wolf hierarchy

0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:37.720
<v Speaker 1>system isn't a complete myth. Again, a captive wolf packs

0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:40.520
<v Speaker 1>like Schnekels have been known to adopt this kind of

0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:45.160
<v Speaker 1>pecking order, but outside of zoos and other artificial environments,

0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:50.200
<v Speaker 1>the stereotypical alpha beta omega social structure is incredibly rare,

0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:53.680
<v Speaker 1>if it can be said to exist at all. Instead,

0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:59.400
<v Speaker 1>what we usually see is a howling nuclear family. Your

0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:02.240
<v Speaker 1>typical wild wolf pack is made up of two breeding

0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:05.360
<v Speaker 1>adults and their progeny, and new pups are born during

0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:08.560
<v Speaker 1>the spring in litters, usually consisting of four to six

0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:13.640
<v Speaker 1>babies weighing about one pound or half a kilo each. Oftentimes,

0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:16.560
<v Speaker 1>the little tykes receive care from both parents as well

0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:21.880
<v Speaker 1>as from their older siblings. Most youngsters leave their original

0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:25.640
<v Speaker 1>pack after anywhere from nine months to three years, so

0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:29.040
<v Speaker 1>it's not uncommon to find parents and tiny infants living

0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:33.560
<v Speaker 1>together with adolescent wolves born in previous years. After moving out,

0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:36.880
<v Speaker 1>young adults try to find mates and establish their own packs,

0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:42.520
<v Speaker 1>beginning the cycle. Anew unrelated wolves do sometimes join a pack,

0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:46.200
<v Speaker 1>and packs may include multiple breeding pairs, although that's a

0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:50.480
<v Speaker 1>departure from the norm. Bigger packs aren't necessarily the most successful.

0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:53.080
<v Speaker 1>Having extra mouths to feed can be a real detriment

0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:56.599
<v Speaker 1>when your prey is scarce, though of course it depends

0:04:56.600 --> 0:05:01.520
<v Speaker 1>on your prey. At Yellowstone National for example, packs of

0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:04.360
<v Speaker 1>nine or more wolves are the most likely to succeed

0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:08.160
<v Speaker 1>when they go bison hunting. Elk, by comparison, are easier

0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:11.560
<v Speaker 1>to kill, with packs containing two to six wolves regularly

0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:16.960
<v Speaker 1>taking them down. That being said, it's not all friendly cooperation.

0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:21.760
<v Speaker 1>Wolves are territorial creatures. A crossing into another group's domain

0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:25.760
<v Speaker 1>can open the door for confrontation. But how can wolves

0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:30.640
<v Speaker 1>tell where their land begins and ends? Sometimes the nose nose.

0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:35.640
<v Speaker 1>Wolves scent mark by spreading urine and feces on above

0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:39.600
<v Speaker 1>ground targets, such as a tree stump. This tells intruders

0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:44.080
<v Speaker 1>that they're approaching boundaries and provides the wolves with olfactory signposts.

0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:48.520
<v Speaker 1>Howling can also be used to signal rival packs, hopefully

0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:55.800
<v Speaker 1>keeping them at bay. Today's episode is based on the

0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:59.240
<v Speaker 1>article what is a wolfpac mentality on how stufforks dot

0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:02.640
<v Speaker 1>Com written by Kristin Conger and Mark Vncini. The Brainstuff

0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:05.679
<v Speaker 1>is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com

0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:09.359
<v Speaker 1>and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts myheart Radio,

0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:12.719
<v Speaker 1>visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:13.719
<v Speaker 1>to your favorite shows.