What is an alpha-male?

Sereni-T · #1 Aug 30, 2007, 11:39 AM

I've head this term been used many times, but don't know exactly what it is. Could someone enlighten me? Wikipedia didn't help!

alkalineangel · Aug 30, 2007, 11:41 AM

the male all the other males dont want to mess with

typically the head dog.

curlybenswife · Aug 30, 2007, 11:47 AM

The leader of the pack so to speak the guy that everyone looks up to and respects.

labman · Aug 30, 2007, 03:39 PM

The term was first used by behaviorists studying wolf packs. Each male ranks somewhere among the males and each female is ranked with the females. They use the Greek letters, alpha, bata, gamma, etc. Only the alpha male and female breed. The terms are used with other species too. So the term alpha male is commonly applied to any powerful, dominant figure.

See Establishing and Keeping Alpha Position, Letting your dog know you are the boss



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