Male wolf VS female wolf, Whos more dominant?

[Darkitten]

Hi! I have been told that The males are in charge of most of all things, And the female is ONLY in charge of breeding, But, My dogs All Have The females as dominant ones. So which gender Seems to dominate the other? Thanks to all that can help!

[Masika]

-Thread Moved to Wolf Q&A-

[SolitaryHowl]

The gender doesn't matter in terms of dominance/submission. Mostly the wolf's 'personality' and disposition is a deciding factor. No offense, but do you even know how a wild wolf pack operates?

[Darkitten]

Yes, I do. I know wolves very well, But I am getting mixed information about the dominant gender. So, I posted it here.

[SolitaryHowl]

Yes, I do. I know wolves very well, But I am getting mixed information about the dominant gender. So, I posted it here.

Oh.

Like I said before above, it doesn't matter the gender as you can have a more dominant female in a wolf pack or a more dominant male in the breeding pair.

[Canidae]

I'd like to add, though, that females will display more aggression to other females than males will display to other males. This has been seen in both wild and captive packs, especially during breeding season.

[Darkitten]

Are you sure? Males have an aggressive instict in breeding season, therefore Making it click in their heads to dominate, and pass on genes. Dominant females do however show some aggression, But not nearly as much as males.

[AutumnLeaves]

I think it depends on how Strong And Fast they are

[wolfyattitude]

I think it depends on how Strong And Fast they are

This would only be part true, but are important factors. I would think that the male would be more dominant, but it really depends on the seasons, I thinking breeding season, could make anything happen.

[Blightwolf]

Dominance between the breeding male and female

The relationship between the breeding male and female is complex and bears further research. With captive packs there are contradictory claims regarding the dominance roles of "alpha males" and "alpha females" in relation to each other and to subordinates. This issue also relates closely to the concept of leadership but is not necessarily the same.1

Whether each gender has its own dominance hierarchy has been subject of disagreement. As van Hooff et al. (1987, p.248) also noted, Schenkel (1947) and Zimen (1982) claimed that in captive wolves each gender has a separate hierarchy. However, in studies of wild wolves, the results tend to disagree. Clark's (1971) data indicated that the breeding male dominated all other wolves and the breeding female dominated all but the breeding male. Haber (1977, p.203) claimed that in the wild wolves he studied, males generally dominated, "with only a few exceptions." My data agree in that breeding males dominate posturally insofar as only once have I seen the breeding male defer posturally to the female (Tables 1-5).

The disagreement about the relationships between breeding males and females probably results from the great differences in pack composition and backgrounds between captive and natural packs discussed earlier. Thus, it is useful to describe the typical interactions between breeding male and female in natural packs, as these interactions have not been described before.

When the breeding male and breeding female are separated, recognize each other, and then meet, the breeding female approaches the male in a typical subordinate posture: with the tail down or between the legs, body crouched or on the ground, ears back, and nose pointed up, and licking the male's mouth (Schenkel 1947). The male stands there nonchalantly, sometimes raising his tail horizontally.

During summers when the pack I observed had pups or yearlings, such a meeting most often took place near them, as the male was returning from foraging. His response to the female's greeting was to drop whatever food item was in his mouth and/or to regurgitate (Mech et al. 1999). The female then ate the food or gave it to the offspring. I could not distinguish greetings such as this that resulted in regurgitation from those that did not.

In 1998, when the breeding pair had no offspring, the four meetings of pair members that I observed each took place immediately after the female had been temporarily foraging separately or had been separately caching food from a kill. Each time the female returned to her mate, she assumed the active-submissive posture when she met the male, and one of these times she submitted profusely for about 90 s. Even once when the breeding female was intently chasing another wolf and was overtaken by her mate (17 June 1991), she submitted momentarily as the male passed her. It seems reasonable to conclude from these observations that the breeding female was subordinate to her mate.

The practical implications of this postural submissiveness, however, are not apparent. The behavior does not seem always to constitute food-begging. For example, during one 1998 meeting, the female postured toward the male as described above while she possessed a long bone from which she had just eaten much. The male, which had not fed for at least several hours, attempted to take the bone. However, the female snapped defensively at him and successfully retained the bone despite repeated attempts by the male over a 1-h period to steal it.

Even if the breeding female's active submission to her mate were really food-begging instead of subordination, one must still contend with the fact that sometimes the breeding female passively submits (Schenkel 1967) to the male. I observed this three times on Ellesmere (Table 1), but I never saw the breeding male passively submit to the female. Because passive submission seems to have nothing to do with food-begging, these observations seem to be clear evidence of subordination.

In attacks on prey, including both calf and adult musk-oxen, the breeding male and female appear to be equally involved, and they feed together side by side even though at times they keep yearlings away. Both breeders also hunt hares together, although on hunts that also involve yearlings, the breeding male seems more persistent than the female (Mech 1995b).

Both breeding male and breeding female scent-mark, and either can initiate double-marking (Haber 1977; Rothman and Mech 1979), depending on which is ahead during a particular moment of travel. For example, on 16 July 1993, during 4 km of travel, the Ellesmere Island breeding pair double-scent-marked three times; the male initiated two of them. Both male and female raise a hind leg during urine-marking, although the male raises his higher, possibly in keeping with his anatomy; both sometimes scratch the ground in association with marking.

During the early phases of pup care, the breeding pair shows a definite division of labor, with the female attending the den area and nursing the pups (Packard et al. 1992) and the male hunting away from the den and bringing food back to the female and the pups (Mech et al. 1999).

The male shows a strong imperative to relinquish food to the breeding female. For example, on 8 July 1992, when the Ellesmere male and female were equidistant from me in opposite directions, I threw the male an adult hare carcass weighing about 5 kg. The male grabbed it, but instantly the female rushed to him, snatched it from his mouth, and took it to the den. The male made no attempt to keep or regain the hare. I then gave the male a second hare of the same size. He ate the head and then took the rest of the carcass 0.5 km to the female and gave it to her. She cached it. Similar tests with smaller pieces yielded similar results.

Nevertheless, in keeping other pack members away from young pups, the breeding female seems to reign supreme, especially when the pups are less than 3 weeks old. In the Ellesmere Island pack, it was common for the breeding female to rush to the young pups whenever the breeding male or any other wolf began to approach them.

Furthermore, the breeding male defers posturally when he approaches the breeding female tending young pups. On 26 June 1990, I observed the breeding male walk toward the female in the den "excitedly wagging his tail and body." Similarly, on 18 May 1990 in Denali Park, Alaska, I observed radio-collared breeding male 251 in the Headquarters Pack (Mech et al. 1998) approach breeding female 307 when she was in a den with pups and begin to "wiggle walk," waving his back end and tail like a subordinate approaching a dominant. The female emerged from the den and the male then regurgitated to her. These were the only times I have ever seen a breeding male act submissively toward any other wolf, and it seems to indicate that the breeding female is temporarily dominant to even the breeding male before the pups emerge from the den.

The breeding female tends and protects the pups more than any other pack member. For example, mothers were the only pack members I ever saw picking up pups and carrying them. Furthermore, on one occasion I observed the breeding female of the Ellesmere Island pack being most aggressive against a muskox that once stood at the den entrance (L.D. Mech, see footnote 1). This agrees with Joslin's (1966) and Clark's (1971) observations. On the other hand, Murie (1944) reported that it was the breeding male which most aggressively chased grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) from around a den of pups.

Source: http://www.mnforsustain.org/wolf_mech_d ... status.htm

[-Winter]

Through Blight's explanation, there is an easier way to say it.

...active submission was more common in the Ellesmere Island pack.

In that pack, all members, including the breeding female, submitted posturally to the breeding male, both actively and passively...

Ellesmere Island Pack is one of the few packs to be researched in the wild. Take into account that this is only one pack. The wolves in this pack (including the dominant female) were all submissive to the dominant male.

[Darkitten]

I think it depends on how Strong And Fast they are

This would only be part true, but are important factors. I would think that the male would be more dominant, but it really depends on the seasons, I thinking breeding season, could make anything happen.

This is exactly what Im saying, Since Males are crazy and females are on guard, And Also With lone males sneaking in to mate with any female of the pack, Wouldn't The lead male Attack?

[Blightwolf]

I think it depends on how Strong And Fast they are

This would only be part true, but are important factors. I would think that the male would be more dominant, but it really depends on the seasons, I thinking breeding season, could make anything happen.

This is exactly what Im saying, Since Males are crazy and females are on guard, And Also With lone males sneaking in to mate with any female of the pack, Wouldn't The lead male Attack?

Yes, the dominant male would attack the other male. I have seen a documentary about Yellowstone wolves wherein a young dispersal male was following the Druid Peak pack (which is now disbanded) and was able to lure one of the females of the pack (who was the dominant male's offspring) away from the group. The dominant male spotted the male while it was tied to the female (after copulation) and when the dominant male attacked, it was one of the most brutal things I have ever seen. The young male was able to escape after a long-distance chase from the dominant male, but yes, the aggression was instant.

[Darkitten]

This would only be part true, but are important factors. I would think that the male would be more dominant, but it really depends on the seasons, I thinking breeding season, could make anything happen.[/quote]


This is exactly what Im saying, Since Males are crazy and females are on guard, And Also With lone males sneaking in to mate with any female of the pack, Wouldn't The lead male Attack?[/quote]

Yes, the dominant male would attack the other male. I have seen a documentary about Yellowstone wolves wherein a young dispersal male was following the Druid Peak pack (which is now disbanded) and was able to lure one of the females of the pack (who was the dominant male's offspring) away from the group. The dominant male spotted the male while it was tied to the female (after copulation) and when the dominant male attacked, it was one of the most brutal things I have ever seen. The young male was able to escape after a long-distance chase from the dominant male, but yes, the aggression was instant.[/quote]

I saw that one! Yea, So that supports my reasoning over when males are dominant. So, what I think I should conclude is:

Males are more aggressive In breeding season for specific reasons, and females are only aggressive _____???

[BlackWarrior]

I actually saw that show as well.

All these facts are very true. I do believe wolves aggression depends on the season and such and not gender.

Although, in my opinion, it seems that the male is more dominant in terms that he leads the pack a females and drives off unwanted lone males. Because of this, I see the male being the more dominant one. I also saw in another documentary, a male wolf attacked his son so keep his position and it is rarely the females keeping the others in line..
This is simply from observation on my part but I do hope it helped some. ^^