dominance

[jumpinglion]

What if an alpha male establishes his dominance and two females fight over him, what would happen from there

[Koa]

What if an alpha male establishes his dominance and two females fight over him, what would happen from there

I highly suggest you read this thread:
http://www.wolfquest.org/bb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=942

The term "alpha," firstly, does not apply to your typical, wild wolf pack. Wild wolf packs generally consist of a breeding male and female, and their offspring. The occasional unrelated animal is included in a pack, but rare. If the animal is a threat to the breeding pair, it most likely wouldn't be in the pack at all if it's of a breeding age, and would attempt to find it's own mate.

Displays for dominance would be more common than full-out fights in the wild, simply because there is a need to conserve energy, unlike wolves in captivity.

Most research on the social dynamics of wolf packs, however, has been conducted on wolves in captivity. These captive packs were usually composed of an assortment of wolves from various sources placed together and allowed to breed at will (Schenkel 1947; Rabb et al. 1967; Zimen 1975, 1982). This approach apparently reflected the view that in the wild, "pack formation starts with the beginning of winter" (Schenkel 1947), implying some sort of annual assembling of independent wolves. (Schenkel did consider the possibility that the pack was a family, as Murie (1944) had already reported, but only in a footnote.)

In captive packs, the unacquainted wolves formed dominance hierarchies featuring alpha, beta, omega animals, etc. With such assemblages, these dominance labels were probably appropriate, for most species thrown together in captivity would usually so arrange themselves.

In nature, however, the wolf pack is not such an assemblage. Rather, it is usually a family (Murie 1944; Young and Goldman 1944; Mech 1970, 1988; Clark 1971; Haber 1977) including a breeding pair and their offspring of the previous 1-3 years, or sometimes two or three such families (Murie 1944; Haber 1977; Mech et al. 1998).

Alpha Status, Dominance, and Division of Labor
in Wolf Packs
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/mamm ... /index.htm

If there is an unrelated female in the presence of the breeding, or dominant female during mating season, the dominant animal may harass the other female so that she may not breed. It is possible for that animal to breed with the male if she fails, but overall unlikely.

[jumpinglion]

Thanks

[BlackWarrior]

Thanks

Great to see that the question has been answered, though as a reminder, please ensure your posts contain at least 3 words, as any less is considered SPAM. ;)

Either way, I'll go ahead and lock this to avoid repetition. Thanks for answering this, Koa!

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