Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A s FA L L 2 0 1 5 16 16 Wolves are like this: e alpha male might be a major player in a successful hunt, then immediately after accomplishing the take- down, walk away to urinate and go and sleep until everyone is full. " e main character- istic of an alpha male wolf," says ranger and veteran wolf-researcher Rick McIntyre as we're watching wolves, "is a quiet confidence, quiet self-assurance. You know what you have to do; you know what's best for your pack. You lead by example. You're very comfortable with that. You have a calming effect." Point is, alpha males are surprisingly non-aggressive; they don't need to be. " ink of an emotionally secure man, or a great champion; whatever he needed to prove is already proven. ink of it this way," Rick offers: "Imagine two wolf packs, or two human tribes. Which is more likely to survive and reproduce: the one whose members are more cooperative, more sharing, less violent with one another; or the group whose members are beating each other up and competing with one another?" So an alpha male, in Rick's 15 years of watching daily as real wolves do their thing, almost never does anything overtly aggressive to the pack's other members, who comprise his family, consisting of his mate, his sons and daughters both biological and adopted, and maybe a brother. Not that they're not tough when they need to be. One famous wolf in Yellowstone — whose collar number, 21, became his name — was considered a "super wolf " by the people who closely observed the arc of his career. He was fierce in defense of family and apparently never lost a fight with a rival pack. Yet within his own pack, one of his favorite things was to wrestle with little pups. "And what he really loved to do," says Rick, "was — to pretend to lose. He just got a huge kick out of it." Here was this great big male wolf. And he'd let some little wolf jump on him and bite his fur. "And he'd just fall on his back with his paws in the air," Rick half-mimes. "And the triumphant-looking little one would be standing over him with his tail wag- ging." One year, one pup was a bit sickly. e other pups were a bit afraid of him and wouldn't play with him. One day, after de- livering food for the small pups, the "super wolf " stood looking around for something. Soon he started wagging his tail. He'd been looking for the sickly little pup, and he just went over to hang out with him for a while. For all Rick's stories about the super- wolf 's victories, that's his favorite. Strength impresses us. But what we remember best, is kindness. Rick describes his own boss, Yellow- stone's wolf research leader Doug Smith, as "a wolf-like alpha male and the best supervisor I've worked with, by far. Very sup- portive, never yells at anyone; he has a naturally gentle manage- ment style, a natural confidence. Without even trying, he totally motivates people." This article is adapted from Carl Safina's latest book, Beyond Words, What Animals Think and Feel, published by Henry Holt and Co., July, 2015 D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A Doug Smith talks about the wolf pack social structure DISTINCTLY MONTANA | DIGITAL www.distinctlymontana.com/wolf154

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