Quote Originally Posted by Lemur
Look at the group dynamics of wolves, or better yet (since they're cute) meerkats. Only the alpha pair are allowed to breed. Any other pups get killed. So why do the daughters and sons of the alphas stay in the pack? What advantage is there for them individually? From your perspective, none. From my perspective, plenty.
Just as an aside. The alpha female doesn't always kill the pups of other females, as I recently discovered while watching the oddly addictive and highly entertaining "Meerkat Manor" on the Animal Planet cable channel.