The Pack
| Life in a wolf pack is hard for all wolves. Packs have a social ranking within the wolves. The alpha's are the highest. There is one alpha male and female. This pair are the only wolves in their pack that mate. The alpha's of the pack are basically bigger and stronger then the rest of the wolves in the pack. They are very dominant of everyone in the pack. The whole pack acts lower then the alpha pair. They hold their heads lower then the alpha's and also their tails as well. Next in the social ranking are the beta's. If one of the alpha's in the pack dies then there may be bloodshed between the beta's to see who will become the next alpha. The beta wolves are hard to define but the wolf who holds the position of omega, is very easy to see. Omega comes from the Greek meaning of last. An omega wolf is the scapegoat for the whole pack. Pack members take out their frustrations on the omega. The omega is also usually the last one to eat, if he gets to eat. Sometimes the omega wolf will slip away from the abuse to form his own pack.
Wolf packs consist of about 10-20 members. With this many wolves it is easier for them to get a bigger kill then that of packs half their size. With 10-20 members, packs will hunt moose and other large prey.
To protect their territory, wolves will leave scent-marks on trees or bushes. Wolves will also bury food for later use. While scent-marking by a wolf will tell you where it has been, the howl of a wolf will tell you where it is. Wolves howl to tell other packs to back off. On a very good day a wolf howl can be heard up to 6 miles away. If a wolf pack hears the howls of a neighboring wolf pack they are likely to respond just to avoid confrontation so that everybody knows where everybody is.
Basically wolf packs are close-knit families working together to survive.
I Am A Proud Member Of:
| | 