Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #2018MMM
Most recents (24)
Are you having trouble filling out your #2022MMM Bracket? Too hard to make decisions? What's a Sneak of Weasels and can they beat a Glaring of Cats? (That one is easy: No)
DON’T PANIC
Grab your towel and follow along with Professor Bobcat’s March Mammal Madness Manifesto
DON’T PANIC
Grab your towel and follow along with Professor Bobcat’s March Mammal Madness Manifesto
First up, reach down for that confidence and remember that this is YOUR bracket and you don’t have to let anybody else make you second guess.
Why am I saying this?
Because if you’re reading #2022MMM advice from an Internet Bobcat you’ve got some issues, Biped.
Why am I saying this?
Because if you’re reading #2022MMM advice from an Internet Bobcat you’ve got some issues, Biped.
Next up, you’ve got your essential #2022MMM decision to make with that newfound mesopredator level confidence:
Are you going with your head or your heart?
If the latter, you get to pick your favorites and go ahead and cheer for them, but,
Are you going with your head or your heart?
If the latter, you get to pick your favorites and go ahead and cheer for them, but,
Having trouble filling out your #2021MMM Bracket? Too hard to make the decisions? What the heck is a Red-Rumped Agouti and can it beat a Bay Cat? (That one is easy: No)
DON’T PANIC
Grab your towel and follow along with Professor Bobcat’s Annual March Mammal Madness Manifesto!
DON’T PANIC
Grab your towel and follow along with Professor Bobcat’s Annual March Mammal Madness Manifesto!
First up, reach down for that confidence and remember that this is YOUR bracket and you don’t have to let anybody else make you second guess.
Why am I saying this?
Because if you’re reading #2021MMM advice from an Internet Bobcat? You’ve got some issues, Biped.
Why am I saying this?
Because if you’re reading #2021MMM advice from an Internet Bobcat? You’ve got some issues, Biped.
Next, you’ve got your essential #2021MMM decision to make with that newfound mesopredator level confidence:
Are you going with your head or your heart?
If the latter, you get to pick your favorites and go ahead and cheer for them, but,
Are you going with your head or your heart?
If the latter, you get to pick your favorites and go ahead and cheer for them, but,
NEXT UP: #5 seed Beaver (Rodentia: Castor canadensis) vs #13 seed Rakali (Rodentia: Hydromys chrysogaster). It's #TeamRodent vs #TeamRodent! #2019MMM
In Waterfalls Round 1, Beaver tail slap sent Mink circuitously for a muskrat meal. A poacher's gunshot took out Peccary & Rakali advanced #2019MMM
Beavers influence entire ecosystems, even in the face of wildfires. #ActualLivingScientist @EmilyFairfax reveals how busy Beavers engineer an ecosystem: #2019MMM
UP NEXT: #1 seed Orinoco Crocodile vs #2 seed Amebelodon! #2018MMM
Tonight's battle also brought to you by @chumblebiome, @drew_lab, @MarkKissel, and @c_n_anderson. #2018MMM
Our fierce competitors tonight have crushed all that have dared stand before them in previous rounds. #2018MMM
UP FIRST TONIGHT: everyone's favorite river horse, the 1-seeded PYGMY HIPPO Hexaprotodon (formally Choeropsis) liberiensis, vs. the scrappy 4-seeded brush wolf, COYOTE Canis latrans! #2018MMM
Many minds came together to bring you tonight's first battle, so a quick hat-tip to @AnneWHilborn, @PKurnath, @TCastanea, & @tinkeringprim8. Seriously, the #teamwork has been amazing #Monstars #2018MMM
To reach the #FinalRoar, Hippo crushed star-nosed mole, intimidated both maned rat & Tasmanian devil, & STOMPED the cheetah out of competition #hangryhippo #2018MMM
And LAST but not LEAST of the #EliteTrait, we have #1 seeded Doedicurus clavicaudatus vs. #2 Amebelodon fricki!!! #2018MMM
Tonight's battle is a 3-way collaboration by me, @PKurnath & @tinkeringprim8, so hold on to your tush! #TeamAwesome #TeamDiscoveryChannel #2018MMM
Doedicurus a.k.a. #TankMammal has taken out the Jugulator, Thalassocnus catans, and Andrewsarchus mongoliensis, while Amebelodon a.k.a. "shovel-tusker" has defeated Deinogalerix koenigswald, Homo floresensis, and Dimetrodon limbatus #winning #taxonomicmouthful #2018MMM
NEXT UP: #1 seeded PYGMY HIPPO vs. #2 seeded CHEETAH! #2018MMM
(photo credit: #actuallivingscientist @AnneWHilborn, Dr. John Carroll (snr.unl.edu/aboutus/who/pe…), Dr. Hernandez (warnell.uga.edu/people/faculty…) & @conservationorg (pygmyhippo.uga.edu/index.html))
(photo credit: #actuallivingscientist @AnneWHilborn, Dr. John Carroll (snr.unl.edu/aboutus/who/pe…), Dr. Hernandez (warnell.uga.edu/people/faculty…) & @conservationorg (pygmyhippo.uga.edu/index.html))
Tonight's battle was a tag-team collab between @AnneWHilborn (Anne) and @am_anatiala (Asia)! #whapalabmates #2018MMM
ASIA: So, Anne, I wouldn't think that this 130lb/265 stoat-heavy fast cat would make it this far. Cheetahs aren't generally considered great fighters, right? *whispers* Unlike Kylo. #2018MMM #StoatsAsMeasurement
'TIS THE FINALE!! #1 seeded Doedicurus clavicaudatus vs. #4 seeded Andrewsarchus mongoliensis!
(DC: gettyimages.ca/detail/news-ph…; AM: Bogdanov 2006) #2018MMM
(DC: gettyimages.ca/detail/news-ph…; AM: Bogdanov 2006) #2018MMM
Tonight's battle has been brought to you by the mighty collaboration of @PKurnath & I. #teamwork #TeamKylo #2018MMM
Doedicurus, a.k.a. #TankMammal, made it to the #Sweet16 by being large like a boulder and tough like a battering ram. #2018MMM
Dimetrodon weighed an average of ~150kg (683 stoats). Recall, Amebelodon weighed in at ~9,000kg (OMG so many stoats) & was one of the largest North American land mammals to have ever lived. Sensing this was a bad move on his part, Dimetrodon flees towards safer regions #2018MMM
But Amebelodon's stampede is not easy to avoid. Amebelodon kicks the non-dino right in its sail, sending it hurting backwards. Broken & healed fractures from the spinous process of Dimetrodon suggest that their fins were often broken (bioone.org/doi/full/10.31…) #2018MMM
AMEBELODON DEFEATS DIMETRODON!!! #2018MMM
NEXT UP: 3rd seeded Dimetrodon limbatus vs 2nd seeded Amebelodon fricki!!! #2018MMM
Hand-claps for @MarcKissel who wrote this amazing BATTLE OF THE DONS!!! #2018MMM (I'm just the messenger tonight)
Dimetrodon has already defeated Aegyptopithecus zeuxis & devoured Pseudaelurus quadridentatus, while Amebelodon has out-competed Deinogalerix koenigswald & scared off Homo floresiensis #2018MMM
NEXT UP: SPOTTED HYENA VS. COYOTE! #2018MMM
This battle was a collaborative effort, with valuable input from @TCastanea and @AnneWHilborn. #2018MMM
Both animals arrive in Round 2 unscathed: Hyena after shredding the tiny Belo Horizonte marmoset, and Coyote having scared off an opossum. #2018MMM
UP NEXT: #3 seed Berlin Boar (Sus scrofa) vs #7 seed Porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) #2018MMM
The top-ranked competitor still has homefield advantage, so this Urban Jungle battle takes place in Berlin, Germany. Berlin Board & Porcupine don't have a lot in common; they last shared a common ancestor ~96 mya (timetree.org) #2018MMM
Did you know what "Porcupine" is Latin for "Quill Pig"? Follow #ActualLivingScientist @porcupinedoc for some more amazing porcupine facts #2018MMM
Next up from the Great Adaptations division, #1 seed Pygmy Hippo vs #4 seed Tasmanian Devil! #2018MMM
This battle brought to you by @c_n_anderson, I'm just sharing the story tonight! #2018MM
The pygmy hippo is herbivorous, feeding on fruits, grasses and ferns - it's large canines are used for aggresive displays, not hunting #2018MMM arkive.org/pygmy-hippopot…
FIRST UP: 1st-seed Orinoco crocodile (Crocodylus intermedius) vs. 5th-seed Secretary Bird (Sagittarius serpentarius)! #2018MMM
Our competitors in this first battle have so far only faced off with much smaller Arthropod foes, so the Sweet 16 Round will be their first tournament tumble with large vertebrate competitors. #2018MMM
The Secretary Bird has used its lengthy gams to crush the carapace of a horseshoe crab and given the mantis shrimp the ol' one-two kick right out of the tournament (and this life). #2018MMM
NEXT UP: #4 seed Andrewsarchus mongoliensis vs #5 seed Thylacoleo carnifex! #2018MMM
To get here, Andrewsarchus taste-tested Nuralagus rex & the giant short-faced kangaroo blundered against our marsupial lion from down under, Thylacoleo! (AM: Bogdanov 2006; TC: Roman Yevseyev romanyevseyev.deviantart.com) #2018MMM
Now the 135kg Thylacoleo has bought a ticket to Inner Mongolia to face off against the (estimated) 810kg Andrewsarchus. Whether that ticket is one-way or round-trip remains to be seen. #2018MMM
Next up: No. 2 ranked Amebelodon fricki vs. no. 7 ranked Homo floresiensis!!! #2018MMM
In the first round Amebelodon sent Deinogalerix koenigswald flying through the air, while Homo floresiensis outwitted the tiny Palaeoloxodon #2018MMM
Amebelodon is a member of the Gomphotheriidae family, a group of extinct elephant-like mammals. Whether all the species currently placed in the amebelodon genus are descended from a common ancestor (e.g., are monophyletic) or not is a topic of some debate #2018MMM
NEXT UP we have #8 seeded Thalassocnus catans vs. #1 seeded Doedicurus clavicaudatus! #2018MMM
In round 1, Thalassocnus #MarineSloth munched on some sea grasses while Cynognathus #DinoDog got washed away with the #RIP tide #TeamMarineSloth eol.org/pages/4530087/… #2018MMM
And Doedicurus #TankMammal barely noticed the Jugulator hop-on and then hop-off its mighty armor that is characteristic of glyptodons eol.org/pages/4529496/… #EasyWin #ReadyToRumble #2018MMM
NEXT UP: 10th seed common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) vs. 2nd seed green anaconda (Eunectes murinus) #2018MMM
The clever octopus reached Round 2 by suffocating and enveloping cookie cutter shark. #sneakattack #2018MMM
(Speaking of clever, check out this @MerriamWebster video if you want to impress all your friends by knowing the *multiple* correct plurals of 'octopus'!) #2018MMM #etymology
Next up is the #5 Secretary Bird against the #13 Mantis Shrimp #2018MMM
The Sec. Bird arrived here through stomping the Horseshoe Crab, while the Mantis Shrimp pulled off an upset over the Alligator Snapping Turtle #2018MMM
As the holder of the higher seed, tonight's battle takes place in Kainji Lake National Park, Nigeria bit.ly/2pGaZl6 (pdf) where the Sec. Bird has been searching for prey #2018MMM
First up in Kat's Away division, Orinoco Crocodile (#1 seed) vs Goliath Tarantula (#9 seed) #2018MMM
This battle was written by the fabulous @c_n_anderson, & it's a doozy. Buckle up folks #2018MMM
The critically endangered Orinoco crocodile defeated the praying mantis in R1 and faces another arthropod tonight. arkive.org/orinoco-crocod… #2018MMM
NEXT UP: #2 seed Cape Town Chacma Baboon (Papio ursinus) vs #7 seed Porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) #2018MMM
It's round 1 all over again: Primate vs Spiky thing! #2018MMM Unlike R1, tonight's battle was a collaboration between @je_light and I!
Baboons are in the same primate group as rhesus macaques (Cercopithecidae). These Old World monkeys last shared a common ancestor with New World porcupines (Erethizontidae) ~90 mya (timetree.org) #2018MMM
Next Up: #4 Coyote (Canis latrans) vs. #12 Sewer Rat (Rattus norvegicus) #2018MMM
Our combatants advanced entirely unscathed from round 1: Coyote gave up on pursuing a possum while Sewer Rat was very fortunate to have encountered a Moscow Dog that prefers human handouts to hunting #2018MMM
Coyotes have been particularly adept at adapting to human landscapes, and are important at controlling deer, geese, and RODENTS in suburban & urban areas urbancoyoteinitiative.com/10-fascinating… #2018MMM
Less than two days ago, the hyena from the walled eastern Ethiopian city of Harar devoured the Belo Horizonte marmoset, & the Bristol fox scare off a raccoon from some choice eggshells. Now these carnivores will face each other! #2018MMM
The Harar hyena & Bristol fox diverged around 54 mya, near the beginning of the Eocene (timetree.org). The Earth was warming, the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere doubled, & Antarctica was nearly tropical 🌴 (researchgate.net/publication/23…). #2018MMM
NEXT UP: #4 Tasmanian Devil Vs. #5 Water Deer!!! #2018MMM
Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) devoured the ghost bat in the first round, while Water Deer (Hydropotes inermis) managed to scare away the solenodon (none of this was controversial at all amongst the fandom...) #truth #2018MMM
The T. Devil is 6-8kg (that's 27-36 stoats for those of you playing at home) and can catch mammals up to 30 kg. The Water Deer weighs in at 9-14 kg (40-63 stoats). #stoatsasmeasurement #2018MMM
