We can’t seem to shake off our obsession with the ‘alpha wolf’ myth. Credit: Shutterstock. Around the 1970s, the world latched onto a catchy new scientific term: alpha wolf. It described the top dog ...

Wolves often live in packs of 3 to 11 wolves, and the individual at the top of the pack is called the 'alpha wolf.' Alpha wolves are aggressive and dominant, and are often thought of as a symbol ...

Popularized the alpha wolf concept. A great deal of research was done on the wolf's pack structure in the 1960s and 1970s, but this was mainly on wolves in captivity, Zimmermann said.