Pack (canine)

African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) live and hunt in packs. Males assist in raising the pups, and remain with their pack for life, while the females leave their birth pack at about the age of two and a half years old to join a pack with no females. Males outnumber the females in a pack, and usually only one female breeds with all of the males. African wild dogs are not territorial, and they hunt cooperatively in their packs, running down large game and tearing it apart. They cooperate in caring for wounded and sick pack members as well as the young.[1]

Gray wolves (Canis lupus) usually live in packs which consist of the adult parents and their offspring of perhaps the last 2 or 3 years. The adult parents are usually unrelated and other unrelated wolves may sometimes join the pack.[2] Wolves usually hunt in packs, but they hunt alone in spring and summer months when there is plenty of prey available. They are found in both Eurasia and North America.

Black-backed jackals (Canis mesomelas) in Southern and Eastern Africa and coyotes (Canis latrans) in North America have a single long-term mate, but usually hunt alone or in pairs.[3][4] Both parents care for the young, and the parents and their current offspring are the pack. They occasionally cooperate in larger packs to hunt large game.

The Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) pack members hunt for rodents alone and come together mainly to defend their territory from rival packs.[5]

All individuals benefit from being a member of the wolf pack; the weak are supported by the efforts of stronger wolves,[6] and higher ranking individuals enjoy better and larger kills than could be taken on their own.[7] Protection is granted by sheer number, and larger, more plentiful territory can be won and sustained.[8]. Care and protection of young is shared, and knowledge can be passed down through generations, creating a unique culture within each group[6]

The pack is typically a nuclear family unit.[9] It often consists of 5-10 (though in areas of high prey abundance can be up to 20)[10] mostly related individuals, specifically consisting of a typically unrelated breeding pair also known as the alphas,[11] their offspring, and occasionally a handful of other wolves which can be related or not.[9] Membership may be fluid and is subject to change.[12] Outside wolves may be shunned or, though rarely, accepted, depending on the specific circumstances. Genetic variability can become limited within such an interrelated group, and so conditions for gene flow must exist.[11] Outside wolves can provide these opportunities.[6] A pack may be accepting of another wolf into their group if it is a distant relative,[9] if reproduction rates are low due to loss or infertility of an alpha, or if their numbers are significantly reduced.[11]

Characterization of wolves into dominance hierarchies of alpha, beta, and omega were based on behavioral studies of unrelated wolves in captivity, and this assemblage largely does not apply to natural wolf packs, which are familial units.[9]

The pups

Importance of the alpha is rivaled only by that of the pups.[14] The fundamental purpose of the pack is the successful production of offspring, and so raising of the litter is a collaborative venture – all members contribute to their development.[6] In times of scarcity, the breeding pair will often prioritize care of the pups, and preferentially feed the youngest wolves first.[9] Despite this committed involvement, pup mortality is high, with researchers citing that only roughly 30% survive their first year of life.[15] Those who survive, however, grow up with the added advantage of being surrounded by numerous care-takers and teachers. There exists a culture within wolf packs, and this is passed on to the offspring by the elders of the group.  Pups learn something from each member of the pack, and attain the vital social skills required to create those powerful bonds upon which wolf societal structure relies.[6]

White huskies dog sledding

Animals which typically predominate over others are associated with the term alpha. Among pack-living wolves, alpha wolves are the genetic parents of most cubs in the pack. Such access to mating females creates strong selective pressure for intra-sex competition.[16]

Wolves show deference to the alpha pair in their pack by allowing them to allocate the distribution of food, typically preferentially feeding the youngest wolves. Wolves use eye contact and posture as an indicator of dominance or submission, which are largely age-based; these postures are rare except in relation to food, as described previously. The smaller and more nuclear a pack is, the status of alpha is less likely to be obtained through fighting, and young wolves instead leave the pack to find a mate and produce offspring of their own.[17] Larger or less-nuclear packs may operate differently and possess more complex and flexible social structures.[18]

In the case of other wild canids, the alpha male may not have exclusive access to the alpha female;[19] moreover, other pack members may guard the maternity den used by the alpha female; as with the African wild dog, Lycaon pictus.[20]

As dominant roles may be deemed normal among social species with extended parenting, it has been suggested that the additional term alpha is not required merely to describe dominance due to its ubiquity, but should be reserved for where they are the predominant pack progenitor. For instance, wolf biologist L. David Mech stated

"calling a wolf an alpha is usually no more appropriate than referring to a human parent or a doe deer as an alpha. Any parent is dominant to its young offspring, so alpha adds no information. Why not refer to an alpha female as the female parent, the breeding female, the matriarch, or simply the mother? Such a designation emphasizes not the animal's dominant status, which is trivial information, but its role as pack progenitor, which is critical information. The one use we may still want to reserve for alpha is in the relatively few large wolf packs comprised of multiple litters. ... In such cases the older breeders are probably dominant to the younger breeders and perhaps can more appropriately be called the alphas. ... The point here is not so much the terminology but what the terminology falsely implies: a rigid, force-based dominance hierarchy."[21]

• Pack hunter
• Dog behavior