But the most influential factor in whether or not a pack defeated an opponent was the presence of an old wolf. A pack with one old wolf more than the opposition has 150% greater odds of winning, making age more important than having a numerical advantage (figure 2). But why? Old wolves are past their physical prime, participating less and less in hunts as they age, instead relying on the younger, faster, stronger wolves to risk bison and elk hooves and antlers to provide food for the entire pack (MacNulty et al. 2009b). Even the lead wolf in The Jungle Book eventually became so old that he rarely left his lair yet was still the leader, as Kipling wrote in one of the last lines of wolf code or 'The Law of the Jungle':