Whether domestic or foreign, people often like to use animals as a metaphor for certain qualities or characteristics. For example, a lion is a symbol of domineering and bravery, a monkey is often used as a metaphor for being flexible, a cow is an image of honest and hardworking, and a sheep Usually means docile.
Wolves are animals that often appear in various literary works or film images. Wolves are considered to be synonymous with unity, tenacity, and hard work. Many companies’ corporate culture emphasizes a "wolf character", but in fact People don’t know much about wolves, at least most people don’t know so well.
Wolves are a very attractive animal. There are many fans all over the world. Perhaps people like wolves for various reasons, but basically when it comes to wolves The impression of the pack, the first reaction is "unity." The reason why wolves are so united is that they have a very strict hierarchy. Individuals living in the same pack follow this system. The ability to socialize and cooperate with each other in order to survive and nurture offspring is second only to smart primates.
can live in groups or live alone
To say that among mammals, the most widely distributed range, except for humans, are basically wolves. We often say wolves, plain wolves, and China Wolves, Mongolian wolves, Arctic wolves, etc., belong to the gray wolf species. Wild gray wolves in the world can be divided into 36 subspecies, distributed in most parts of the northern hemisphere .
The reason why wolves can adapt to different geographical environments is related to their living habits. Most canines live in groups, and wolves are also animals with higher social attributes. In most cases, they can live in groups. But their lifestyle is more than just group living.
Generally speaking, wolves have three life styles, namely living alone, living in pairs, and living in groups. The factors that determine how they live are mainly seasons, number of prey, etc. In spring In the warmer seasons such as summer, everything recovers, and there are a large number of small rodents in both the grassland and flat land or the relatively open forest.
In addition, the number of other ungulates is also at a high level. At this time, there are more lone wolves, especially wolves in the forest ecosystem. They can act alone or if two pairs of individuals act together. Get enough food to survive.
But when the cold season comes, wolves mainly feed on large ungulates. To capture these preys often requires team cooperation, so at this time most wolves live in groups.
Experts from the Belarusian Academy of Sciences conducted a long period of ecological research in the Nalipokki Forest, and they discovered this phenomenon. In the study area, the researchers found that adult Eurasian lynx can kill wolves, especially male big lynx, and will regularly remove wolves in the habitat to reduce the mortality of cubs, because lynx cubs are more fragile and easy Killed by a wolf.
People found that the number of wolves killed by lynx in April-September each year was significantly higher than in other months. After further research, it was found that April-September was the warmth in the Nalipokhi Forest. At this time, the number of lone wolves was large, even surpassing the number of wolves living in groups, and the lynx selected lone wolves to start.
In fact, even adult male lynx will never actively provoke wolves. This also explains why in other months, the number of lynx killing wolves decreases, because in the cold During the season, wolves mostly act in groups.
Wolves are "monogamous". They usually stay together for a lifetime after a successful pairing, but if one party dies or disappears, the other party will quickly find a partner again. Wolves tend to estrus in the second half of the year or winter, and last for about two weeks, while the paired individuals in the estrus stage will move in pairs.
In the previous research, people found that the hunting success rate of lone wolves or wolves in pairs is higher than that of large wolves . This is contrary to people’s common belief. Most people believe that, The greater the number of wolves, the moreThe easier it is, but the actual situation is:
When wolves act alone or in pairs, most of the prey they prey are smaller animals, so the hunting success rate is naturally higher, and large wolves are in order to reduce the number of hunts. , And to meet the needs of survival, they tend to prey on large prey such as musk ox, moose, and the success rate is naturally low.
Formation of wolves
The basic social unit of a wolf is a family, usually composed of a pair of adult wolves and several offspring , in North America, The average size of the wolf pack is 8 wolves, while in Europe, it is 5-6. The member structure is: two adult wolves (parents), sub-adult wolves, and young wolves less than one year old.
Larger wolves usually consist of 2-3 families. In addition, it has also been observed that multiple different wolves will temporarily gather together to form super-large wolves. The current observations are known The largest wolf pack, consisting of 42 wolves.
Wolf cubs will mostly live in the group for 10-54 months after they are born. After that, they will leave and enter the wandering life. This is similar to the lion’s way of life. , Are mechanisms for species to avoid inbreeding.
After a period of wandering, the lone wolf will find his other half. After pairing, they will live and travel together. When they find a habitat that is not occupied, they will use this area as their own territory. Mark, then mate and reproduce, open branches and loose leaves, thus forming their own wolf pack, but in some cases, lone wolves will join another wolf pack that is not related by blood, instead of "starting up" by themselves.
But wolves are mostly kinship-led groups, they have little tolerance for foreign wolves, usually does not accept foreign lone wolves, but drives them away or kills them directly , But in some special cases, wolves will also accept foreign wolves . For example, if one of the matched wolves has died, the other will accept an adult wolf of the opposite sex to replace the deceased member.
Of course, this kind of situation is very rare. Among the foreign wolves accepted by wolves, most of them are sub-adult wolves around 1-3 years old, and these sub-adult wolves have to show a more obedient attitude. , And does not have the strength to compete with other members of the group for a spouse.
There are many factors that determine the size of the wolf pack, but they can be roughly divided into four, namely competition and contact, hunting and survival. Friends who are in contact for the first time may not understand it, we will consider one of them. Disassembled:
competition can be understood as the competition between wolves and wolves. Wolves are animals with strong territorial consciousness. Generally speaking, the territory of a wolf group is much larger than what is needed for survival. This will ensure adequate food supply, but at the same time wolves will avoid hunting around the territory, because hunting in this area is very likely to fight with neighboring wolves.
The size of the wolf pack is limited in this respect, mainly because once the number of wolves exceeds a reasonable range, it will continue to create friction with the surrounding wolves. Contact
to understand better. I said earlier that wolves are a group dominated by kinship, that is, in a wolf group, the more offspring and the more relatives, the larger the whole wolf group. In addition, if two wolves are related to each other, the greater the probability that they will merge to form a large wolf group, so that a large family-style wolf group led by the most experienced wolves can be formed. They are tied by blood relationship, and the connection between members is closer.
Hunting is the survival method of wolves. How does it affect the size of the wolf pack? In fact, it is very simple, that is, in a certain area, the minimum number of members required to capture the prey needed for survival, such as hunting a moose, the best number is 4 wolves, while hunting a musk ox requires more wolves.
Survival is not survival in the literal sense, but refers to the maximum number of wolves that can be fed by wild ungulates in an area, that is, how many wolves can be supported by the prey here. Nowadays, there are very few very large wolves in the world. One of the reasons isAffected by human life, the number of wild animals is far lower than the historical level, unable to feed the super-large wolves.
The social hierarchy of the wolf pack
The wolf pack is a social organization with a very strict hierarchical system , in a wolf pack, there are often three main classes , And a level composed of young wolves, the three levels are: 阿尔法狼 (usually called wolves, alpha, α, the first letter of the alphabet), secondary wolves ( beta, β, the second letter of the Greek alphabet), 边狼 (omega, Ω, the last letter of the Greek alphabet).
Take the family-style wolf pack as an example. The adult male wolf in the parent role is an alpha male and a head wolf. The female wolf is an alpha female. In terms of rank, the alpha female is second only to the alpha male, and the sub-adult wolf is Inferior wolves have a lower status than Alpha wolves, while marginal wolves have the lowest status. They are often driven out wolves or newly accepted alien wolves.
It is worth mentioning that cubs under one year old have not entered the primary level , and will automatically become secondary wolves in the second year without special circumstances.
The social rank of a wolf is not always the same. For example, when the first wolf in the wolf pack is killed by hunters, or disappears for some reason, the rank in the pack ranks first. The second one will automatically fill up and become a wolf; under certain special circumstances, the female wolf in the lactation period will also have a higher status than its mate.
Some scholars have done an experiment. After the first wolf in a wolf pack was removed, the original secondary wolf took the position of the first wolf. After it consolidated its position, people once again replaced the original wolf. When the first wolf was put back into the pack, it was found that not only did it not return to the high-level status, but even the status of the sub-wolf did not get mixed up, becoming a marginal wolf that was often bullied by other wolves.
The rank privileges of wolves are reflected in all aspects. The wolf has the supreme power in the wolves and determines all the big and small affairs in the wolves, such as hunting, guarding, mating, etc. This is very obvious with African wild dogs. When African wild dogs decide whether to hunt or not, they often vote collectively. High-level individuals only have a higher weight in votes, while wolves in the pack are almost "one person has the final say".
High-level wolves have an absolute advantage over low-level wolves , for example, in food distribution, when high-level wolves want to eat, low-level wolves must automatically give way, but sometimes low-level wolves The wolves of wolves will also appear to protect their food and make an offensive against high-level wolves, but this behavior is usually exchanged for a "bad beating". After the fight, the low-level wolves are basically honest.
So how do you know whether a wolf's status in the wolf pack is high or low? In fact, it can be seen in many features. Among wild animals that live in groups, status is often linked to strength, so if a wolf looks very tall and strong, then even if it is not a wolf, it is at least a wolf with a higher status.
In addition, in a situation where many wolves are gathered together, those wolves that seem to have better temperament and are in a clearly dominant position are basically high-level wolves, and those wolves that are attached to the tail are half-squatting. It seems that the only wolves are basically of lower status.
Head wolves are mostly males, but they can also be females.
In discussions about wolves, we often hear such a sentence, saying, It's a male wolf", then is it true? In fact, this is not the case, but: wolves are basically male wolves, but at some point, female wolves can also become wolves .
For example, in a wolf pack with a small family as a unit, if the male wolf dies, the female wolf will automatically inherit the position of the head wolf; for example, in a large wolf pack, there are often one male and one female. The wolf in the alpha position, if the male dies or disappears, AhElfa females will also inherit the position of first wolf.
has never been mentioned in any authoritative information. The wolf must be a male. In a wolf pack dominated by kinship, the qualification to become a wolf is sufficient in addition to absolute strength. The survival experience and seniority of the wolves are also one of the important factors. As the alpha female in the wolf pack is not only strong and experienced, but also the mother of many members in the wolf pack. After the alpha male disappears, most of the time they can successfully succeed. Yes, and can convince the public.
In many folklore stories, there are often stories about the female wolf king. The National Geographic Channel also shot a documentary on "The Female Wolf King in Yellowstone", which clearly shows people The story of how a female wolf went through hardships and finally ascended to the top of the pack.
Wolves in captivity
According to different living conditions, gray wolves in the world can be divided into two categories, namely wild wolves and captive wolves. As a result of zoo conditions, the size of the pack of captive wolves is generally larger than that of wild wolves. Basically, the number of wolves in the park where the wolves live represents the size of the pack.
But the wolves in the zoo are prone to suffering from certain mental illnesses, such as "Stereotype behavior" , which is a mental illness often suffered by animals in the zoo. The main manifestation is The park keeps going in circles.
The structure of the wolves of captive wolves is similar to that of wild wolves, but there are some subtle differences. Captive wolves also follow the hierarchy of head wolves, secondary wolves, and edge wolves. , but the male and female are independent and related to each other.
We can understand that a set of hierarchy is formed between males, and a set of females is formed, and the two groups of males and females merge into a large group. Normally, alpha males have a higher status than alpha females. High, but when Alpha females are breast-feeding, their status will rise to a position equal to or slightly higher than that of Alpha males.
In summary, whether it is a wolf pack in the wild or in a captive state, there will be a female leading group phenomenon , so the wolf must be male The argument is naturally untenable. As the saying goes, "the tiger can't stand a pack of wolves." The most fundamental reason why the wolves can show such a strong combat capability is its strict hierarchical system and stable community structure.
