Dominance/Submission
Wolf packs have a special way to keep members of the family from fighting each other. It's called a dominance order. Every member of the pack has a place, or ®rank¯, within this order. When a wolf with a higher ®rank¯ has a disagreement with a wolf of a lower ®rank¯, the lower-ranking wolf usually gives up without fighting. This is very important, because wolves are powerful animals with sharp ®teeth¯. If they didn't have a way of preventing fights, they could hurt each other badly.
Very early in life, ®young wolves¯ may start to establish a dominance order among themselves. When they are only about 30 days old, the ®pups¯ in a litter may start fighting with each other. They may fight every day for a number of days. In the end, one of the ®pups¯ will roll over on its back to show that it gives up, and the other raises its tail to show dominance.
