This is like the 4th time I've seen this on this site, amazing how libs start having mussolinite takes on democracy the second their preferred side loses elections
According to Sapiens by Yuval Harari, this is exactly what distinguishes us, the ability to create fiction. So you can lie and convince other humans that you are the strongest leader. And also create fake scenarios that define what the strong human should be like.
The US is afflicted with ineffective (many other adjectives can apply) politicians and a (dumb?) constituency that consistently votes against their own best interests.
My dogs would do whatever the one dog wanted and he would hunt rocks to the point it destabilize the hill in our backyard. His nickname was dumb dumb bone head and I loved him
Specially wolves. The alfa female with other strong females lead. The young and old follow in the middle. With the alfa male and strong males last. This is done to protect the young and old in middle of pack. The females are the fastest that trip up the pray, so the strong male can finish.
If the alpha animal would at least be the strongest, but a weak, stupid, fat animal which even lost his former pack despite giant hordes of bisons as food source, an animal which only could survive with food supplementation even during summertime. So dumb is no animal to chose such an alpha.
First, the entire concept of 'Alpha' was based on a flawed study and has been debunked multiple times. Second, there have been multiple recorded incidents of abusive leaders in packs/troupes being beaten to death and replaced when they abuse their power. Just saying.
Within canines? Gotta disagree with that one. Training dogs properly also revolves around you being the "alpha". It helps the dog relax knowing they don't need to be the alpha and can trust you to do it.
Being a trusted leader who they can look to and trust? Yes. The concept of Alpha as it was used in the study and to describe wolf & dog behavior however has been debunked as flawed and inaccurate.
and interestingly, while their behaviors are similar, dogs don't tend to form packs in rather different ways than wolves do. It's absolutely fascinating reading.
I'm so glad you enjoyed them! I know it's hard to judge tone online but I get genuinely excited/enthused about sharing the weird things I know (and learning from others) but it can come off as lecturing, especially with short word counts and I'm out of practice. And stressed. That doesn't help.
I have no clue, I love dogs, but I really have no knowledge about Hierarchie of dogs or wolves. I never liked thid alpha beta talk, my dog was my friend, but it was problematic.
No worries, I watch & read way too many animal docs. There was an interesting finding recently with deer herds. They're far more cooperative and consensus based than originally thought. The 'leaders' aren't ordering the herd around but rather reacting to signals from the herd. yup. I'm a nerd.
Comments
But whatever. Lmfao.
We're just clearly the only ones who would allow the dumbest to lead the pack, if not one of the very few...
Bwa-ha-ha-ha
https://mexicanwolves.org/blog-why-everything-you-know-about-wolf-packs-is-wrong/
https://positively.com/dog-training/article/ethology-why-pack-theory-is-wrong
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/wolves-out-score-wild-dogs-when-it-comes-cooperation-180965293/
https://www.kristibenson.com/blog/2022/3/31/language-matters-why-wolf-pack-terminology-is-bad-for-dogs