Social Behavior   Home Habitat Hunting and Food Social Behavior Communication Howling Courtship and Mating Birthing and Maturation Parenting Management Literature The basic social unit of the wolf is the pack. The pack consists of a mature male and female with offspring of one or more years of age. Packs usually consists of two to eight members but have been seen as large as 36. Members form strong social bonds that promote internal cohesion within the pack (C&F 468). The dominant, or alpha, male is the largest most powerful of the pack. The alpha male runs the pack and keeps order among the lower ranks. The alpha male and female are usually the only breeding pair in a pack, but occasionally other members will breed. In these cases the breeding usually involves one of the alphas with the lower ranking member. The position of alpha is usually achieved at the beginning of the pack and is rarely changed, but if a change does occur it causes a serious disturbance in the social order of the pack(Mech 70). Being so close and tightly arranged when the alpha position is changed it apparently confuses the rest of the pack, even as far as to cause a break up. The submissive members regularly "pay homage" to the alphas by approaching them in a submissive posture, head and tail lowered, and nuzzling the dominant member, or by rolling onto their back and exposing their stomach when approached by a dominant wolf (Mech 90).