In Search of an Alpha Male

Men who turn into werewolves, Fae who ride dragons, and vampire knights who long for someone to love. My books are full of alpha males, but what is that exactly. 

Wikipedia defines it like this An alpha male is the top-ranking animal in a social group.

Note. It does not say they are human, so when we visited Yorkshire Wildlife Park, I decided to check out the animal groupings and see if this was true. I learned a few things along the way.

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We started with the camels. 

Not a pretty animal, but maybe I could learn something from them. When the males come into season they herd the cows into a group. 

Well, I’ve never written a ménage, mostly because I can’t figure out where all the body parts fit. The bull camel comes into season or musth and is so intent on the cows he forgets to eat. While I heroines would like the attention, I don’t think they’d join a harem

Right, that’s camels off my list.

Remember I said I learned things? One was the collective noun for butterflies? 

Do you know?

The answer’s at the end.

Anyway, I moved on to the tigers.

Mummy tiger had an adorable group of cubs that we could spy on from a treehouse. Only where was dad? Surely he was an alpha male. 

Well...

Actually, he’s a freaking absentee parent. 

Apparently male tigers don’t get involved in raising the cubs. Mmm, definitely not hero material then. My heroines are my hero’s partners not their sexual playthings. Okay, my books are hot so sometimes they are the hero's plaything too.

Ready for another quiz? Why is it impossible to sneak up on a dragonfly?

Again, the answers at the end.

Lions. They’re apex predators—the top of their food chain. Surely that’s where I’d find an alpha male. 

I learned they have manes to make them look bigger and retractable claws. I even discovered they could run at up to 40 miles an hour as long as they didn’t run far. Finally, I was on the right track. 

Only… Guess what? It’s the female that hunt and rear the cubs. Worse, they often steal another animal’s kill. Again not a great role model for either my heroine or my hero.

Another thing I learned. How long is an anteater’s tongue?

By now you know where to find the answers.

That left only the polar bears. 

Believe me, they’re huge. 

When they rear up on their hind legs they stand almost 3 meters.(That’s just short of ten feet) 

Well, I do like my heroes to be tall. Better still, they’re both muscular and curious. Promising. Then I read the fact sheets. 

The damn things are mummy’s boys. 

They stay with mummy until they are about two then head off to hang out with the guys. Shades of Grease with its T-birds and Pink ladies. Or should that be white ladies since I’m talking polar bears? 

Another quick quiz? Okay. How far does a lion’s roar carry?

Not far to the answers now.

Sadly, I realized the a real life alpha male may not exist in the animalkingdom. Every woman dreams a confident male who can protect and provide. Best of all, she wants him totally devoted to her while she’s just as devoted to him. Maybe that’s why we love stories about loved up Lykae or vampires with dark eyes and sexy lips. 

And all those questions?

1. The collective noun for butterflies is a flutter.
2. A dragonfly has 30,000 lens per eyes giving it almost a full circle of vision.
3. An anteater’s tongue can be over two feet long. (Now there’s a possibility for a hero, but who wants a man that eats ants.)
4. A lion's roar carries for over five miles