The animal itself
A wolf pack is a family — a breeding pair and their offspring. The "alpha" model came from studying unrelated captive wolves and was retracted by the researcher who popularised it, David Mech, who has spent decades asking people to stop citing his own book.2 of 2 calendars · 5,400 searches a month
Wolf
Loyalty organised around a group.
Which calendar assigns it, and when
Celtic calendar
28 October – 24 November
Its tree
Reed
Native American calendar
19 February – 20 March
Its zodiac sign
Pisces
Unusual: wolf appears in both calendars. The two systems agree on only 17 days of the year out of 365, so an animal claimed by both is the exception rather than the rule.
What it stands for, and where that came from
Loyalty organised around a group rather than a leader, and the instinct to read a situation before entering it.
Honoured in: Rome founded on a she-wolf; Norse Fenrir as devourer; Mongolian and Turkic origin myths as ancestor.
The symbolism usually grew out of the behaviour rather than the other way round — which is the part worth keeping when the rest is set aside.