Wolves have always been known to mate for life. We’ve been curious about this too, and so we’ve been researching it. While some explain how this could be just a long-held myth. We’ll give a clear understanding and answer the question – do wolves mate for life.
Starting with a quick summary before we dive into the answer.
The main reason wolves often mate for life is closely related to parental care. More akin to natural human parenting, where good parent relationships contribute to producing healthy and mentally stable offspring and a family pack. There are instances where wolves may need to bond with a new mate.
It is estimated that around 3 to 10 percent of mammals are monogamous or mate for life. Finding that one love for life is many a human’s wishes. However, the reality of mating for life rarely goes the same with animals.
This behavior of mating is experienced only among a handful of animals. Especially animals such as Albatros, Beavers, Gibbons, and Wolves.
But again many of these animals have faced controversies about their mating for life behavior. One famous animal stuck between mate-for-life …or monogamy, are wolves.
Read on, or watch the video below from the Ranger Planet Youtube Channel.
Do Wolves mate for life?
By nature, wolves are believed to be very affectionate to their mates. Usually displayed most by the alpha pair.
Especially after mating, they remain affectionate and close to each other. Because of their affectionate demeanor toward one another. Wolves have been known to have long-lasting attachments to their mate.
The wolf mating season begins in January and leads up to April.
During this time the alpha pair is believed to move out of the pack. They do this to avoid interruptions from other pack members.
And during this mating season, it’s only the alpha pair that mates out of the whole pack. This is mostly done to keep the population of the pack under control.
The alpha pair is usually the dominant male and the dominant female of the pack who mates in order to reproduce.
Dominant means they are usually the most dominating leaders within the pack and are effectively given charge over the pack – although on occasion this may be challenged.
However, this doesn’t always mean that they’re totally in charge or they are the alpha pair because they are qualified, intelligent, and capable.
See also:
Does only the Alpha pair mate for life?
The alpha pair is usually the male and female wolf who has the right leadership and self-confidence.
The alpha title is given to the male and female who possess the right fearless attitude to lead and guide a pack.
This is one of the main reasons why the Alpha pairs end up being the only members who mate and breed.
So, in time, as this alpha pair is the only pair that mates and breeds, this alpha pair also came to be known as the “Breeding pair”.
This way of choosing the alpha or breeding pair also relates back to the reason why wolves are believed to mate for life.
However, there are some other controversies at play here, where it’s believed that pairs other than the alpha pair – more often than not the beta pair will also mate, and even on rare occasions pairs outside the alpha pair do mate also in the pack.
The below image outlines the hierarchy of pairs within the wolf pack that are eligible to mate, along with those who do occasionally, or some that mate rarely…
Even if pairs other than the alpha pair mate, they are still believed to uphold the mating for life behavior.
With wolves mating for life cleared up, it’s probably a good time to know why wolves adopt this mating pattern which is rare in the animal kingdom.
Why Wolves mate for life
One of the main reasons why wolves – or perhaps any animals that mate for life – tends to be directly connected to parental care. This can be considered closely related to normal human parental care.
A good mother-father relationship directly affects the mental stability and healthy growth or raising patterns for children.
From an instinctive level, a father who provides and safeguards the family to a mother who can lead a good family with love and affection, everything about a healthy parental animal-based relationship where survival is key is important in the process of raising children
This is the exact reason why many animals …including wolves, stay loyal to one mate and will mate for life. Or do they? more on that shortly…
Mating for life gives wolves a practical way to deal with the demand of child-rearing and raising healthy offspring in the wild.
The alpha pair as parents
The alpha pair is said to be the male and female of the pack who have the self-confidence and fearless attitude to lead a pack.
These characteristics of self-confidence and fearlessness connect with good parenting.
A father and mother who can fearlessly protect and provide for the offspring with self-confidence can offer a promising future for their cubs and the sustainability of their pack from all types of potential harm.
In cases where other non-alpha pairs mate, they often choose a mate for life, depending on the ability to provide and protect.
And in general, when wolves choose pairs to mate for life, they opt for ones who have better genes that can contribute to producing healthy and better offspring for the foreseeable future.
However, is this “until death do us apart” mating behavior true? Or just another myth as many would believe. Let’s look at that next…
Do wolves cheat on their mate?
Mating for life …or sexual monogamy among wolves may not be true after all, especially with animal evolution favoring promiscuity.
Several species may be suffering dwindling numbers due to relying on only one mate. Mating for life can be a risky business.
This also means that wolves may have a good reason to cheat on their mate, and a wolf may look for other options in order to secure a strong mate and maintain their lineage.
Practically speaking, there may often be situations where the mate-for-life may disappear or die. It then becomes almost imperative that the female alpha looks for other options.
Similarly, a situation may occur where the alpha male suffers from reproductive disabilities, or genital problems or suddenly loses the ability to produce healthy offspring.
This would provide the necessity for the female alpha to find an alternate mate, switching to another mate. The same applies to male alphas.
Apart from this, alpha males have been observed to mate with other non-alpha females. Especially if they are closely related.
Likewise, the alpha females have also taken opportunities to dispel this mate for life myth. In some cases, the DNA of some newborns has shown possible mating with numerous males.
See our related articles on wolves
To finish…
So it seems that after all, while the “till death do us part” myth, may hold true in a generalistic sense, among wolves at least, it may not be in its strictest form and could change depending on practical or natural phenomena.
We hope this has helped answer the question do wolves mate for life. Don’t forget to check out our other articles to learn something you perhaps didn’t know before.