Back to Africa Check

No, wolves can’t teach people a ‘leadership lesson’

An old meme on what wolves can teach us about leadership has found its way onto Facebook in South Africa. The image shows two dozen wolves walking in single file through the snow.

Three wolves in front are circled, as are five behind them. Another five wolves towards the back are also marked, and an arrow points to one wolf straggling behind.

The explanation is that the three wolves in front are “old and sick”. They are there to set the pace, to make sure the rest of the wolves don’t leave them behind.

The next five, and the five at the back, are the strongest, the meme says. They’re there to protect the 10 or so ordinary pack members between them.

And the lone wolf behind the rest? He’s the leader. “He ensures no one is left behind. He keeps the pack tight and on the same path. He is ready to run in any direction to protect his pack.”



Female wolf leads this family


It is a valuable and humane idea: the weaker members of a group set the pace, the stronger members are always ready to protect everyone else, and the leader walks behind to take care of the entire team.

But it’s not a lesson we can learn from these wolves.

A fact-check by Snopes tracked the original to a photo by Chadden Hunter. It also featured in the 2011 BBC documentary Frozen Planet.

The photo is of a wolf family in northern Canada, in the Arctic Circle.

Its original description says the “alpha female” (not a male “leader”) led the pack – she didn’t follow behind. The rest followed in her tracks simply to save energy.  

Snopes adds that the “alpha” wolf doesn’t exist in the wild. The leaders of wolf packs are mostly just the parents of the rest of the wolves. – Africa Check (26/02/19)




 

Republish our content for free

Please complete this form to receive the HTML sharing code.

For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false

A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?

Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.

Publishers guide

Africa Check teams up with Facebook

Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.

The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.

You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.

Add new comment

Restricted HTML

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a href hreflang> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote cite> <code> <ul type> <ol start type> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <h2 id> <h3 id> <h4 id> <h5 id> <h6 id>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
limit: 600 characters

Want to keep reading our fact-checks?

We will never charge you for verified, reliable information. Help us keep it that way by supporting our work.

Become a newsletter subscriber

Support independent fact-checking in Africa.