Some of the many articles about it:
The notion that wolves fight amongst each other and the strongest becomes the “alpha” and the weakest is the “omega” and all that, is a misconception that has been debunked ages ago, and even the author of the study who called them “alphas” in the first place is pleading with his old publisher to stop printing the dang book already so this misconception can finally die out.
Wolf packs are more or less just families. One “breeding pair” and their pups, which often stay with their parents way into adulthood.
Considering the original study only documented Wolves in captivity I explain it like this: Alpha, Beta, Sigma, whatever, is just the type of prison bitch you’d be, so congrats.
Exactly this. Put any one species into a tiny depressing enclosure with way too many strangers and way too little food, and they will fight and establish a pecking order eventually. This has nothing to do with how the same species would behave in the wild and with enough resources to live comfortably, and the author realized that mistake years ago and is since trying to correct it.
But I guess the entire “alpha male” thing is just too popular with certain people … ahem.
I chuckle inside and exit the room at the first chance when someone non-jokingly refers to themselves as an alpha male. And that’s not because I’m afraid of them–the fact is that I’m the alpha male.
/s
Humans in packed cities could be described in a similar way though, if there’s not a social reinforcement in place, by the community elders who are respected and followed, to keep them from it. I live in a medium sized city now because of work, but even still I can relate to the rats [I’m aware of the studies flaws].
Put any one species into a [packed] depressing [space] with way too many strangers and way too [varied amounts of resources per individual], and they will fight and establish a pecking order eventually. This has nothing to do with how the same species would behave in the wild and with enough resources to live comfortably.
I grew up in the country with tens of acres and my nearest neighbor was a mile away. Separated from the small town nearby by a river and surrounded by thick hedgerows going miles around in every direction, with a huge open space (fields) between our house and the hedgerows. I’ve never been happy in the city. No matter where I am, I feel like I’m in a cage. I’m not agoraphobic but there’s a sense of being ‘watched’ when I leave my house that just isn’t there when you live in a remote area. All the people, sights, sounds, smells can be incredibly overwhelming at times.
I am only capable of attaining a true level of peace when I’m in nature.
Whether or not it’s a real concept doesn’t matter to these people, all that matters is whether it appeals to their pre conceived notions or not.
Also a great argument for the fact that caging humans doesn’t change anything in a positive direction. Especially when you enslave them too like in countries with barbaric penal systems such as the US.
The sad part is that a no small amount of prisons (especially “for profit” prisons) don’t have the end goal of rehabiliting the inmates in the first place. It’s all about cheap labor. They don’t want to change anything into a positive direction.
Reminder that only 8% of USA prisons are for-profit (I.e. private prisons).
Also a reminder that 2 out of every 3 workers in state and federal prisons still have jobs creating for-profit things.
Funny that pecking order is something you see in chickens. So these human alpha males are copying hen behavior.
We see it chickens that are in a prison like environment.
Alpha hen.
What is life but just a series of prisons?
Alpha: Incomplete, generally unstable and full of errors.
Also, not fit for public consumption
Username checks out
deleted by creator
In other related news, the makers of these shirts watched their stock prices plummet today:
I’m not sure ‘alphas’ are the target market for this shirt.
Actually, I’d love to see this shirt on self-proclaimed alphas. Would be so… badass…
The magic of Three Wolf Moon exists on an entirely different plane than anything else wolf related. Those wolves are no longer a one-man wolfpack.
But that is a group photo, nothing alpha about it.
I’m gonna hodl.
moass incoming. Shorts are scared. Shorty burns.
Why am I down 99 percent?
“Alpha” males - ftfy:-P
Ironically its that they don’t have “alphas” in the wild because they just separate and leave each other alone…
For humans in school, prisons, and even just work environments we’re a lot more like captive wolves than wild
This terminology arose from research done on captive wolf packs in the mid-20th century—but captive packs are nothing like wild ones, Mech says. When keeping wolves in captivity, humans typically throw together adult animals with no shared kinship. In these cases, a dominance hierarchy arises, Mech adds, but it’s the animal equivalent of what might happen in a human prison, not the way wolves behave when they are left to their own devices.
That being said, any person describing themselves as an alpha is usually a big piece of shit.
Personally, I like the “alpha as in new software” approach: Alpha version = unstable, missing important features, filled with flaws, prone to breakdown and not fit for the public.
That’s pretty accurate
Oh I’m definitely stealing this my dear. That’s gold
A lot of guys have started calling themselves sigma males, but i just approach them and tell them I’m a Smegma male which is over a sigma male. 😤 these are facts that cannot be disputed.
Me? I’m a Ligma male.
Me? I’m more of a π-male myself
Oh yeah? I’ll bet you use USPS like a schmuck. Your “package” “came” in the “mail” 😤 I think not.
Ligma nuts.
Got em
Would you like cheese on that?
🧀 🍆
They’re just jealous because Smegma males come with built in flavor enhancers. Women crave for our taste and scent. 😤💪🏼
Be a gamma make and hulk out!
Try telling Andrew Taint this
…so he can have a total meltdown over an internet stranger again? =P
I tried, but I don’t know the address to the prison he’s in.
I just call them good doggos. Is that okay?
wood doggo
Chimpanzees do, though (source). and they’re closer to humans than wolves.
The whole alpha wolf thing kind of sounds like projection.
I don’t mind calling the posers prime chimps.
Honestly, that feels like giving them too much credit. Chimps are fucking terrifying. The more I learn about them, the more I wonder “jesus fucking christ, how badass/insane was Jane Goodall?!”. Those things are the closest things to real demons I’ve ever heard about.
Edit: well, aside from particularly unhinged humans
Yeah but bonobos are close to chimpanzees and humans too yet they have totally different culture than chimpanzees.
In fact, bonobos used to be a subspecies of chimpanzees but because that nonviolent culture, they’ve become their own species.
Just like the vaccines cause autism study, this won’t ever die out. People only ever remember the original.
People only ever remember the original.
And only partially so. Conveniently, they forget the part where, IIRC, guy was just trying to promote his own vaccine
Ironic. It wasn’t his own vaccine. It was two vaccines that he held stock in.
All of you are wrong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wakefield?wprov=sfti1
He had a bad study linking autism to certain vaccines and wanted to sell test kits.
You’re the most wrong lol.
He put out the study stating a link between the MMR vaccine and bowel disorders. Further stated that autism was caused by bowel disorders.
He advocated people to take the seperate vaccines not not the single MMR vaccine. At the time of the study he was developing his own vaccine and had a stake in another, meaning his study had a strong monetary motive.
He would become and anti-vax hero even though he wanted people to take more vaccines, not none.
And just like marijuana leads to heroin.
I mean if you believed that shit in the first place you’re probably not going to believe this post eh
LIES, EVERYONE KNOWS I’M THE ALPHA AWOOOOOO 🐺🐺🐺
People who say alpha wolves don’t exist obviously never seen me crankin my hog. ARRRROOOOOOOO
HE’LL YEAH BROTHER NOTHING LIKE CRANKING A COLD ONE AFTER CRACKING YOURE HOG AROOOOOOO
Wolves are also scavengers and would gladly eat rotten corpses, trash and literal shit (just like dogs).
Just what a beta would say.
As a software developer I’m fine with this point of view.
All wolves are beta. Weak.
These days, the only people still using this debunked wolf talk are douchebros, chuds, & incels.
There’s no shortage of well meaning dog owners who don’t know any better.
Why do I need to know this? Will this help me if I get attacked by a pack of wolves?
I think it has something to do with the two wolves inside you
I don’t know what you’ve heard about me, but I can assure you that I have never had a wolf inside me. I’ve never been inside a wolf either. There was that one time I was drunk at a hotel where a furry convention was going on, but I don’t think that really counts.
I was told earlier today this was due to a transporter accident.
Well, if one of the very rare wolf packs left in the wild decided to actually attack a human, yes it would.
Not necessarily because of the whole alpha misinformation being corrected, but it would mean you’d know something about their behavior and how to deal with them.
Mind you, a wolf attacking a human isn’t exactly common. They have to be starving usually.
And, yes, that’s partially poking fun at you, but it’s also true. Understanding the behaviors of animals tends to improve outcomes of encounters. For example, using body language correctly can deter the local feral dog packs that have mixed with coyote. If you read up enough, watch video footage of canine responses to each other away from captivity, you can learn how to behave like something they don’t want to attack in the first place by neither challenging them or triggering prey drive.
If some idiot tried to act “alpha” when facing canines in numbers is likely to get you attacked. It might work on single dogs, but wouldn’t against a pack
