Ah, ok. Seems I'm doing a little of my own assuming. Thanks for the clarification.
Perhaps we share a similar perspective on this topic, then; that a person's position or status in life is not necessarily dependent upon intelligence.
But then DA also stated in his proposal that: "there is little reason for anyone other than the alpha to be able to think." I suppose there may be differing opinions as to whether leaders prefer to lead sheep or an intelligent and experienced band of followers.
In fact, your comment about the wolf runt (while your example doesn?t require that it become leader) parallels theories regarding leadership, as often the person who can read the dynamics of a population well can succeed in leading them. How they use this knowledge of group dynamics to become alpha leader is up to them. It could be used coercively or used to attain mutual objectives with followers, or perhaps a little of both.
Furthermore, in this instance, you could say that it is the prevailing dynamics of the followers that determines the type of alpha leader and the manner of leadership. It is usually the female bonobo that is leader rather than the strongest male, for example.
