“A wolf pack: the first 3 are the old or sick, they give the pace to the entire pack. If it was the other way round, they would be left behind, losing contact with the pack. In case of an ambush they would be sacrificed. Then come 5 strong ones, the front line. In the center are the rest of the pack members, then the 5 strongest following. Last is alone, the alpha. He controls everything from the rear. In that position he can see everything, decide the direction. He sees all of the pack. The pack moves according to the elders pace and help each other, watch each other.” -Unknown Cesare Brai’s photo.
This must be the biggest nonsense I have ever read about wolves on this website, next to the persisent incorrect usage of the outdated “alpha beta omega” ranking terms, and that one weird 9GAG post.
I mean, without knowing anything about wolves, and just using common sense alone, you could figure it’s weird to let the sick wolves do the hardest work which is slogging through the thick snow, paving the way for the rest of the pack. The reason wolves walk in line simply is to save energy. So logically, instead of sick wolves, strong/healthy individuals who can deal with the hard work will walk in front.
Usually, the leading wolves are first in line. The leading wolves of a pack are the breeding pair who automatically becomes the leaders of the pack - comparable to human families. In more complex packs where there isn’t such a natural pack composition (such as artificially composed packs in zoos, or several packs merged together), the ranks-implying term “alpha” is still in place to refer to the leading wolves. The original caption of this photograph refers to the first wolf in line as the “alpha female”, which would be in place if this is one of those merged packs - something very well possible, looking at at the absurd high number of wolves in this pack (25). Large packs like these are typically possible because of either merging, or because of rich prey base.
Also - surprise surprise - the ambush part is complete nonsense as well. That’s just… just, no.
Original caption and source of the photograph:
“A massive pack of 25 timberwolves hunting bison on the Arctic circle in northern Canada. In mid-winter in Wood Buffalo National Park temperatures hover around -40C. The wolf pack, led by the alpha female, travel single-file through the deep snow to save energy. The size of the pack is a sign of how rich their prey base is during winter when the bison are more restricted by poor feeding and deep snow. The wolf packs in this National Park are the only wolves in the world that specialise in hunting bison ten times their size. They have grown to be the largest and most powerful wolves on earth. Photograph: Chadden Hunter/BBC NHU” [x]
As autumn turns to winter, sometimes it’s a fine distinction when I have to decide whether an image belongs here or on my other blog, @now-winter-comes-slowly, but if you’d like more of the mixture of things I share here, but with a wintry edge, do follow me there as well. Meanwhile, here’s Mark Salwowski’s cover for Tanith Lee’s novel, Heartbeast.
Blue tears out its throat. Her teeth are very sharp. She has four rows of them. Her double-banked eyes see beautifully in the dark. Her six legs end in tearing points […] in her wolf shape […].
“Do they frighten you, child?” asked the kindly man. “It is not too late for you to leave us. Is this truly what you want?” Arya bit her lip. She did not know what she wanted. If I leave, where will I go?
