[FALSE] Miscaptioned Wolfpack Photo

The “Josh Duhamel” (facebook.com/JoshDuhamel, archive.md/0MGNF) verified Page, shared 5,066 times per screenshot was made.

https://archive.md/dzp6j (backup archive), https://archive.md/U8aSd (photo backup).

NARRATIVE

“A lesson in Wolfpack leadership…

The 3 wolves in front are old & sick, they walk in front to set the pace of the running group lest they get left behind.

The next 5 wolves are the strongest & best, they are tasked to protect the front side if there is an attack.

The pack in the middle are always protected from any attack.

The 5 behind them are also among the strongest & best; they are tasked to protect the back side if there is an attack.

The last one is the LEADER. He ensures that no one is left behind. He keeps the pack unified and on the same path. He is always ready to run in any direction to protect & serves as the ‘bodyguard’ to the entire group.”

EXPLANATION

(1) First Draft News: “MISLEADING CONTENT

Misleading use of information to frame an issue or individual”.

“FALSE CONTEXT

When genuine content is shared with false contextual information”

* The SOURCE shared a miscaptioned photo which already checked and clarified since 2015.

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* The narrative circulated with the photo shared by SOURCE does not matched with the photo’s original description.

(2) The photo’s original description,

* The Guardian: “A massive pack of 25 timberwolves hunting bison on the Arctic circle in northern Canada. In mid-winter in Wood Buffalo National Park temperatures hover around -40C. The wolf pack, led by the alpha female, travel single-file through the deep snow to save energy. The size of the pack is a sign of how rich their prey base is during winter when the bison are more restricted by poor feeding and deep snow. The wolf packs in this National Park are the only wolves in the world that specialise in hunting bison ten times their size. They have grown to be the largest and most powerful wolves on earth”

Photograph: Chadden Hunter/BBC NHU”.

(3) Several related fact check articles,

* Snopes: “This photograph is “real” in the sense that it shows a pack of wolves in Wood Buffalo National Park, but the pack is not being led by the three oldest members and trailed by an “alpha” wolf, as implied by a viral Facebook post. Instead, one of the stronger animals leads the group in order to create a path through the snow for them.”

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* PolitiFact: “The photograph in the post is real and unaltered, but its caption is incorrect. The pack is not being led by the older, sick wolves and the “alpha” or leader wolf is not bringing up the rear. In reality, a strong wolf leads the pack single-file in order to save energy to get through the deep snow.

This post is False.”

(4) Related to “Alpha Status”,

* International Wolf Center: “Abstract: The prevailing view of a wolf (Canis lupus) pack is that of a group of individuals ever vying for dominance but held in check by the “alpha” pair, the alpha male and the alpha female. Most research on the social dynamics of wolf packs, however, has been conducted on non-natural assortments of captive wolves. Here I describe the wolf-pack social order as it occurs in nature, discuss the alpha concept and social dominance and submission, and present data on the precise relationships among members in free-living packs based on a literature review and 13 summers of observations of wolves on Ellesmere Island, Northwest Territories, Canada. I conclude that the typical wolf pack is a family, with the adult parents guiding the activities of the group in a division-of-labor system in which the female predominates primarily in such activities as pup care and defense and the male primarily during foraging and food provisioning and the travels associated with them.”

REFERENCE

(1) firstdraftnews.org: “Fake news. It’s complicated.” http://bit.ly/2qYG8Rs, http://archive.md/eSihu (backup archive).

(2) theguardian.com: “A massive pack of 25 timberwolves hunting bison on the Arctic circle in northern Canada…” https://bit.ly/2YKWXjR, https://archive.md/LiQs3 (backup archive).

(3) snopes.com: “Do the Oldest and Weakest Wolves Really Lead the Pack?” https://bit.ly/2YAp0SI, https://archive.md/jzoio (backup archive).

(4) politifact.com: “Facebook posts on viral wolf pack image are wrong about the animals’ behavior” https://bit.ly/2MRxijT, https://archive.md/9bahy (backup archive).

(5) wolf.org: “Alpha Status, Dominance, and Division of Labor in Wolf Packs” https://bit.ly/3cXQUgS / https://archive.md/QvYpB (backup archive).