Deathclaw Ranks...

He probably thinks of "alpha and omega", assuming if there is an Alpha, there must be an Omega.

Tarantulakelurk: There is no "omega". "Alpha" in this sense has nothing to do with religion. It has to do with biology. Large flock-leading individuals are often refered to as "alpha" in biology, such as "alpha male" or "alpha female". It just means "number one individual" of the particular flock.
 
Most of the thin-skinned omegas packed up their shame and moved to the capitol wasteland, where irritated locals are reported to be killing them in droves with nothing but dart guns and persistence.

lolol no, but seriously, what zegh said. Omega deathclaws don't seem to exist. The packs seem to function as a sort of nightmarish but all-inclusive commune, with the close quarters habitation and the carrion left around their caves for the picking suggesting that they exhibit a cooperative spirit and and a dedication to each other as individuals and as a pack that surpasses that of most pack mammals and even humans. As genetically perfected death engines, I'd imagine everything possible was done in their creation to eliminate the sort of physical deficiencies or confidence issues that lead to alpha/omega posturing, leaving instead a fierce "esprit du corps" and a strong loyalty to the commanding figures of the pack.

Physically speaking, it's possible (I'd say likely) that the runtier deathclaws lack the strength to break through their tough egg casings and die in ovum, or that they're weeded out young, but that's just conjecture. It's entirely possible that the lone deathclaws you encounter throughout the games are outcasts from their packs, too, meaning I just wasted a bunch of words on nothing. Tellingly, though, the ones in Fallout 2 who had their intelligence bumped up to (barely) sapient levels revered the one clear physical Omega of the species we've yet seen, Goris, for his wisdom and intelligence, and though he often went his own way he was always welcomed and cared for like any other member of the pack.
 
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Yamu, I love you lol! Well stated post. I'd say it's more likely those lone deathclaws are like the rare lone wolves, or lobos as they are sometimes called. deathclaws, that for whatever reason, left the pack. If this is the case, they are not outcasts but chosen loners and you wasted no words!

I want this to be true xD
 
Lone wolves are outcasts. Outcast animals gain a fierce reputation, because since they can no longer rely on the pack, they are forced into doing more desperate hunts - most notoriously - hunt humans - or inside human habitats (picking kids or pets)

The latter more common for lone wolves (pets in particular, since kids are usually nearby adult humans), outcast lions for example, will gorge on nearby farming communities, and gain quite the devilish reputation before they are shot.
 
Most of the thin-skinned omegas packed up their shame and moved to the capitol wasteland, where irritated locals are reported to be killing them in droves with nothing but dart guns and persistence.
Yamu, I love you lol!
I always got by with simply running backwards from a chasing Deathclaw while tossing makeshift mines I'd sloppily constructed out of lunch boxes, bottle caps, and cherry bombs, then watched the stupid lizards cripple themselves to death! Persistence be damned! XD

But indeed, I almost always get a great kick out of Yamu's words. Always sagely and delightful at the same time. =)
 
D'awww, you guys :oops:

As far as the Deathclaws go, I think it's important to keep their behavior in Vault 13 in mind when trying to extrapolate anything about them. As much as Gruthar's pack were bemoaned by some (and as much as I liked them, they were pretty goofy and it's probably better for the franchise that they're gone), their existence is canon, so we can learn a lot from them. All the Enclave scientists did was increase their intelligence a bit, so, unless there was some unforeseen side-effect of the tinkering we're not privy to, the character of the V13 group represents their other natural traits coming to the fore.

It makes one wonder what they might have been like if they hadn't had such a strong predatory drive spliced into them. They don't seem to stray far from their lairs, and they don't seem to willingly target large groups of humanoids or dwell too closely to human habitations unless they need to, or the poor hapless humans stumble into their inner sanctums or the path of one of their hunts. For all their ferocity, there's a cagey sort of timidity about them. They're almost like some of the more ferocious bears in that way, or big cats.
 
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They definitely have that territorial aspect to them much like, say, crocodiles do (and really, you're safe from crocs if you just stay out of the water, away from their nests, and you don't hug the shore), while they do travel short distances for hunting as packs of cats would, but without the roaming tendency. They try to keep to a single location, and much of their dislocation came from being moved by outsides sources. This isn't always the case, of course, as the Deathclaw Mother made her way into the Boneyard at SOME point when she decided to set up her nest, but the Vault 13 pack served as a fantastic example of having been displaced and making up their lair where they found themselves, preferring to keep to an area with a rigid radius of that den. Their increased intelligence allowed them to make the conscious decision not to harm any humans when they were out hunting, but they would still venture out regularly to hunt and bring back their game. There's some level of migration to Deathclaws, but it doesn't appear to be seasonal, or at the very least it may be just gradual.
 
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