the-awkward-turt:

gdubcarver:

the-awkward-turt:

It is much more scientifically accurate to say “alpha chicken” or “alpha pig” than to say “alpha dog” or “alpha wolf”.

I want to know more.

In a natural state wolves (and dogs) live in a family group with two parents and their offspring. The breeding male and female are not the leaders of the pack because they dominated the other wolves, they are the leaders for the same reason that human parents are in charge of their young children (kinda a respecting the experience of their elders kinda thing). 

Pigs and chickens, on the other hand, live in groups of unrelated individuals rather than family groups. In pigs it’s a collection of unrelated females with their offspring. Each female wants to provide the best resources for her offspring and it’s in the best interest of the herd for the strongest and most fit pig to be in charge, so the females will often fight among themselves for a better position in the pecking order. And I think we all know that the term “pecking order” comes from chickens themselves, which generally also have a very linear dominance hierarchy.

Due to faulty research on groups of unrelated wolves in an unnatural situation people used to think wolves fought for dominance and the strongest were the “alphas”. However that idea really doesn’t apply to wolves or dogs at all. It applies much better to pigs or chickens where there actually is fighting for dominance.

Coincidentally this is also the reason that dogs and pigs cannot safely be left alone together (such as when someones has both kinds of pets) because they don’t really understand how each others’ group structure works and it leads to dangerous miscommunications.