We’re the most lethal fighters after humans and chimps: my week as an alpha male wolf

Monday

Yellowstone Park is a good place to be a wolf these days, so long as you can keep out of the way of gun-crazy humans outside the park boundaries. And I’ve done all right, but I don’t want to talk about me. I want to talk about my ancestor. I never knew him, but we still tell tales about him. And probably always will be. Because he was the perfect wolf.

Tuesday

Wolves fight. I mean, to the death. It’s our way. Among mammals we’re perhaps the most lethal fighters after humans and chimpanzees. We fight, we kill. I’ve been involved there; we all have, if we have any status. And my ancestor – human researchers called him Wolf 21 – was in many fights. Many many times. But hear this: he never lost a single fight and he never killed a single beaten opponent.

Wednesday

My pack, we ran down a white-tailed deer and ate it and that was fine. I’m alpha male: we took food back and fed it to the cubs. My cubs: just me and my consort, the alpha female, do the breeding. That’s how it always is. Apart from Wolf 21. He bred from three females in the same pack in the same year, raised almost every cub to maturity and at one time he led a pack of 37 wolves. How the hell do you keep all that lot in line? Beats me. But not Wolf 21.

Thursday

Here’s a thing about mercy: it demands respect. Not just because it’s kinder, but also because it’s the most tremendous statement about power. You could have killed him, but you didn’t. You didn’t need to. He might try it again, but if he does you’ll beat him again. So he probably won’t. The magnanimous leader is more powerful than the vindictive one. And a great deal more respected.

Friday

Actually, Wolf 21 did lose fights. All the time. To his own cubs. He adored playing with the little ones: they would ambush him and bite him and he’d flop down on his back, all four paws in the air: mercy, mercy, I’m totally beaten! And then he’d grin and shake himself and carry on being the perfect wolf. If there was a little sickly cub, he’d always make time for it. You think I’m being sentimental? It’s all on record – in human files as well as lupine folklore.

Saturday

Wolf 21 wasn’t just big and fierce. He was brilliant at fighting. Saw the weakness, had the speed and the craft to exploit it. And yet he’d always establish peace straight afterwards. Humans compare him to Muhammad Ali. Which is nice of them, or at least, they think it is. He was much better than that.

Lifespan  Around eight years

Eating habits  Elk please

Hobbies Family

Sexual preferences α+

*As told to Simon Barnes

Photograph by Dennis Fast/Universal Images Group via Getty Images