I swear at least six people have posted this stupid picture over the last few days. To be fair, the picture itself is not stupid, I think it is an incredibly cool picture of wolves. However, the whole thing about the order of the wolves is just not true.
First of all, the idea of alpha males & females in gray wolves is not accepted by zoologists. The reality is the pack is made up of a breeding pair and most likely their children from the past few years. The leader is the dad.
Secondly, if you read about this photo, you find that it comes from the BBC show Frozen Planet. The lead wolf is actually the top female (mother or if you want to use old terms: the alpha female). This scene was captured at Wood Buffalo National Park, which is unique in that it has some of the largest parks of wolves anywhere. These packs are abnormally large because they hunt buffalo. The observers noted that the wolves followed the female as she made a path through the snow to conserve energy for the ensuing attack on an animal much larger than themselves.
The weird thing about this post is that you could easily have made a leadership comparison by saying that a leader knows when to clear the way for their employees, who may be better suited for the tasks ahead.
Wolves are amazing animals and we do not need false stories about them to make them seem interesting. Ready for a fun fact: wolves in Israel will fight with hyenas over kills. However, on a few occasions there have been wolf packs that will cooperate with a hyena. The wolves use the hyena for their superior sense of smell and strength, whereas the hyena feasts on larger prey because of the pack. So cool.
