The second level in the hierarchy of grey wolves is beta. The betas are subordinate wolves that help the alpha in decision-making or other pack activities. The beta wolf can be either male or female, and he/she is probably the best candidate to be the alpha in case one of the alpha wolves passes away or becomes very old. The beta wolf should respect the alpha, but commands the other lower-level wolves as well. It plays the role of an adviser to the alpha and discipliner for the pack. The beta reinforces the alpha's commands throughout the pack and gives feedback to the alpha.

The lowest ranking grey wolf is omega. The omega plays the role of scapegoat. Omega wolves always have to submit to all the other dominant wolves. They are the last wolves that are allowed to eat. It may seem the omega is not an important individual in the pack, but it has been observed that the whole pack face internal fighting and problems in case of losing the omega. This is due to the venting of violence and frustration of all wolves by the omega(s). This assists in satisfying the entire pack and maintaining the dominance structure. In some cases, the omega is also the babysitters in the pack.

The leaders are a male and a female, called alphas. The alpha is mostly responsible for making decisions about hunting, sleeping place, time to wake, and so on. The alpha’s decisions are dictated to the pack. However, some kind of democratic behavior has also been observed, in which an alpha follows the other wolves in the pack. In gatherings, the entire pack acknowledges the alpha by holding their tails down. The alpha wolf is also called the dominant wolf since his/her orders should be followed by the pack. The alpha wolves are only allowed to mate in the pack. Interestingly, the alpha is not necessarily the strongest member of the pack but the best in terms of managing the pack. This shows that the organization and discipline of a pack is much more important than its strength.

Learning goal 1: Fur colour in wolves is a genetic trait. This means that a wolf inherits its fur colour from its parents.TrueFalse

In the following sentence - Most wolves are grey – the underlined word is an example of:Question 5Select one:an auxiliary verba thinking Processa material Processa relating Process

In her book, Goodall discusses the dominance hierarchy. One classic example of this hierarchy in action is the use of metal fuel cans by _______ to intimidate and ultimately replace _______ as alpha male at Gombe. (Find the answer below that has the names in the correct order.)Group of answer choicesGoliath; David GraybeardDavid Graybeard; HumphreyMike; GoliathHumphrey; Mike