This gallery is under construction. The material presented here is part of the owner's learning process about rat behavior.

The term "Alpha" is fraught with controversy, yet is commonly used when describing certain rat behaviors. The material offered aims to clarify some of the issues regarding the term "Alpha".

Dr. David Mech was one of the leading biologists and wolf experts who publicized that wolves have an Alpha. He has since refuted and retracted that theory, and now holds that wolves in the wild do not have an Alpha. In this video he explains that Alpha refers to fighting to obtain priority breeding rights. Wolves, he explains, have "parents" rather than an Alpha.

He also mentions that in captivity, a forced-together - not biologically-related - pack of wolves, might develop an Alpha role. (These wolves would, of course, be intact animals.)