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.
Alpha: Incomplete, generally unstable and full of errors.
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…
Alphas?
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.
Oh I’m definitely stealing this my dear. That’s gold
That’s pretty accurate
I can see myself coming up to a Alfa dude and say "are you Alfa Wolf as in a wolf stuck in captivity or Alfa Wolf as in the first and incomplete version of a wolf
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.
His name was on the patent. There was a second name on it as well, and that guy was someone whom the first cited. This second guy lost his license two years before publishing his paper, that the infamous one cited.
Yeah, I tried explaining this to a “dog person” and they wanted no part of it. It was like telling a child Santa Claus wasn’t real or something
also the microwave study, learned about that one from my sister.
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.
Be a gamma make and hulk out!
Try telling Andrew Taint this
I tried, but I don’t know the address to the prison he’s in.
…so he can have a total meltdown over an internet stranger again? =P
These days, the only people still using this debunked wolf talk are douchebros, chuds, & incels.
And femcels
There’s no shortage of well meaning dog owners who don’t know any better.
I just call them good doggos. Is that okay?
Chimpanzees do, though (source). and they’re closer to humans than wolves.
The whole alpha wolf thing kind of sounds like projection.
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.
Ah yes, but have you considered the gargantuan confirmation bias of anyone willing to map debunked wolf social dynamics onto humans?
Yes but you implied that even if there’s no alpha male in wolves, there’s alpha male in chimps and while we can’t apply wolf’s power dynamic to humans, we can with chimps because they’re a closer species to us. I wanted to point out that there’s another close relatives of us and chimps (the bonobos) who are not actually violent so we still can’t justify male violence on humans because we find it in chimps.
Those kinds of animals have always kinda fascinated me with how it just makes you wonder if there’s a element of genomes when it comes to your personality
No idea about personality traits, but there have been studies about what kind of human behavior, especially facial expressions, might be “pre programmed” in our genes. For example, rolling your eyes when you’re frustrated with someone, or raising your eyebrows when you are surprised - that’s something even most blind people do instinctively, despite never having seen it / never learned it from others.
Indeed. There are many still who are making big bucks on this misconception. The worst offender in my opinion is “The dog whisperer”, who is likely the worst well known dog trainer, and has done (and still does) a lot of damage. The whole basis for his school of thought is based on this alpha/beta/omega hierarchy.
I only watched his show once and it was so clear that he was abusive that I couldn’t even watch the whole episode. Just disgusting.
Alpha hyenas, however, those are definitely real. But they’re boss babes so the PUAs can’t work with that
At least it helps point out the awful people who use the terms “Alpha” and “Beta” unironically to describe people.
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
Just what a beta would say.
Wolves are also scavengers and would gladly eat rotten corpses, trash and literal shit (just like dogs).
