Alpha Wolves

Dawn and I just watched this great documentary on the Discovery Channel about this couple that lived with the Sawtooth wolf pack in Idaho for 6 years to create a documentary. They discovered a lot of really interesting things about wolves, but one of the things that really struck me was the selection of the Alpha Wolf.

The Alpha Wolf is the leader of the pack. There is usually an Alpha male and he selects a mate who is the Alpha female. Usually the Alpha

At the bottom of the pack is the Omega. The Omega is not an outcast, but is an important part of the tribe. The Omega always eats last, among other things that come with being the low dog.

So the really interesting thing is it was always believed that the Alpha was the largest and oldest wolf in the pack. When they were building the Sawtooth pack (since no wild wolves were currently in the area) they started with a couple adult wolves and then introduced a few pups. While they were preparing the pups to be released with the adults they observed that one of the pups had a very Alpha personality. They were concerned how that would go over with the current Alpha wolf in the pack.

When they released the pups into the pack the "Alpha pup" became the Alpha of the whole pack, even though the current Alpha was an adult and much larger. Had it come to a physical battle the adult could have killed the pup easily.

The really interesting thing was the Alpha pup's brother became the Omega. As Omega he always walked with his tail between his legs and in a lowered or crouched state. This makes judging their size difficult. When they were full grown they noticed that the Omega was actually notably larger then his Alpha brother. Again size made no difference for who was Alpha and who was Omega.

So why did the wolves take their roles of Alpha and Omega? Because of their energy. They received the roles they wanted, the roles they designed for themselves.

This is just like our life. We all are in the roles we choose for ourselves: consciously, or subconsciously. So what life and role are you going to choose for yourself?