The Myth of the Alpha Wolf

Re:The Myth of the Alpha Wolf by sillysaurusx on Saturday March 25, 2023 @02:41PM (#35305670)

It’s why I hope they’ll be accepted back into society someday. The risks seem minimal with proper care, and right now their options are captivity or wilderness. But they’re where dogs came from; a few generations of selective breeding to reduce adrenaline response would do the trick.

But the growls are kind of cute, and probably sound a lot more ominous than they are.

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Re:The Myth of the Alpha Wolf by johndhi on Saturday March 25, 2023 @02:47PM (#35305756)

What? Wolves have massively more powerful bites than dogs, right?

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Re:The Myth of the Alpha Wolf by sillysaurusx on Saturday March 25, 2023 @02:52PM (#35305817)

Humans have one of the most deadly bites too. Just because something is dangerous, it’s tempting to shun it. But the danger is relative to the frequency of problems.

(If this is a “citation needed” situation: https://www.mayoclinic.org/first-aid/first-aid-human-bites/b...)

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Re:The Myth of the Alpha Wolf by pxc on Saturday March 25, 2023 @04:24PM (#35306912)

Probably more worrisome to me is taking for granted the way we've bred dogs to be gentle, calm, good-natured, etc. Most people don't do much to train their pet dogs or even learn to communicate with them. We more or less get away with that, societally, because dogs are insanely good-natured. Dogs give us so much 'for free'. I think without that, like when people just keep wolves as pets, I think things look a LOT dicier.

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Re:The Myth of the Alpha Wolf by copymoro on Saturday March 25, 2023 @02:49PM (#35305779)

wilderness?

there's no wilderness... it's all somebody's backyard.

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Re:The Myth of the Alpha Wolf by sillysaurusx on Saturday March 25, 2023 @02:53PM (#35305823)

True, but 28 years ago they were reintroduced into Yellowstone. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRv5NTNU/

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