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UP NEXT: 4-seed BHARAL versus 12-seed ROCK-WALLABY #2019MMM
During round 1, the rock-wallaby upset the serval with one wicked kick #CrouchingMacropodHiddenWallaby #YouGotSERValED #2019MMM
And to recap, this 10lb/4.5kg/21stoat sized marsupial edemic to northeastern Queensland in good ol' Oz bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:ls… photo by @MichalKrause #StoatsAsMeasurement #2019MMM
Tonight, our 12th-seeded underdog (or under-roo!) faces off against the much larger (154lb/70kg/318stoats) & just as rock-adapted bharal #DadJoke #StoastAsMeasurement #2019MMM 
Last time, the bharal walked up the mountainside, displacing the stoat #STOATallyUnbelievable #2019MMM
When you look at them, tonight's combatants are quite similar. They are both leaping, rocky-life herbivores with features that allow them to better spot potential predators, to chew their plant-based foods, and to blend into their habitats #2019MMM
Check out the dentition! The wallaby & the goat-like bharal have sharp incisors to clip grasses, and then specialized molars to grind up all that fiber (Fun fact: you can ID a mammal based on its teeth!) #2019MMM
Bharal keep an eye out for snow leopards (Oli, 1994) academic.oup.com/jmammal/articl… while rock-wallabies fear introduced & invasive foxes (Kenner et al, 1998; Lepage and Hensall, 2001) publish.csiro.au/AM/AM01047 & publish.csiro.au/WR/WR9880435 #2019MMM
(SIDEBAR: for more info on snow leopards & why they love to eat bharal, follow @snowleopards & @biologistimo #ActualLivingScientist #2019MMM)
But there is one BIG difference ...... #2019MMM
Body plan! Marsupials like the rock-wallaby are born at such an early age in development that they weight AT MOST 1% of their mother's body mass, AND THEN they need to crawl into a pouch to get milk #TheNewbornMarsupialCommandoCrawl abc.net.au/science/articl… #2019MMM
Marsupial neonates have more developed forelimbs, claws and mouths for this reason! (Fig. 1, Keyte & Smith 2010) dev.biologists.org/content/137/24… #2019MM
These developmental constraints have led to the fact that .... there are NO HOOVED marsupials! #2019MMM
In comparison, the bharal are eutherians, meaning their young develop in utero & are born much more developed, which means they are born with all four hooves, ready for action (after a bit of hardening up after birth) #2019MMM
Tonight's battle takes place in the mountains of the Ladakal region of northern India (since the bharal still has home court advantage) rufford.org/files/Internat… #2019MMM
The rock-wallaby is diggin' the rocky mountainside, but feeling a bit chilly this high up (most of this plateau is 3000M / 9800ft / too-many-stoats-to-count in elevation) #2019MMM
Since the rock-wallaby no longer blends in the gray mountainside of India, the male bharal easily spots the stranger. The bharal lets out a predator warning call to the rest of the group - "chit-chit, (slurred) chirrt" (Wang & Hoffman, 1987) besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11… #2019MMM
Not liking this cold, scary situation at all, the rock-wallaby makes a speedy getaway to a retreat space under the rocks #2019MMM
BHARAL CALLS OUT ROCK WALLABY #2019MMM
