[Contest] March Mammal Madness 2020

Happy day-after-March-11! You know what that means!
Results are synthesized from here.

Tonight's battle takes place in Hadagarh Wildlife Sanctuary in Northern Odisha, India, where it's the beginning of summer and our Sloth Bear is using his large forefeet to dig into a termite mound. Although in an unfamiliar and not preferred environment, Pygmy Spotted Skunk finds the warm weather pleasant and perfect for a snooze. Skunk snuffles off and finds a nice tree to curl up in and catch some zzz's. Diurnal foraging Sloth Bear digs into the tree where our nocturnal Skunk is resting. Pygmy Spotted Skunk is startled awake and threat displays by handstand, pointing its rear at the Sloth Bear! Small animals usually don't bother Sloth Bears....much. Pygmy Spotted Skunk continues its display, stomping its forefeet and trying to intimidate Sloth Bear away, but Sloth Bear is ignoring the skunk. Pygmy Spotted Skunk depleted much of its noxious odoriforous spray after the encounter with Gandidier's Mongoose Monday night, so to save its precious musky resource and to avoid a potential attack by Sloth Bear, Pygmy Spotted Skunk leaves the battle field in search of a new sleeping spot. Sloth Bear outlasts Pygmy Spotted Skunk!

Victor: Sloth Bear

Our scene opens in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana, a protected area larger than Holland. It is the end of the wet season, the grass is drying up, and many of the herbivores are getting ready to leave for greener pastures. The brown hyena is mostly noctural, but he's out & about in the daylight today, charging a group of cheetahs who have brought down a springbok. The cheetahs have eaten some of their kill already, and are good at evaluating danger. Not wishing to risk tangling with the hyena, they concede the kill, but not without some upset hissing to let him know they are not pleased with the proceedings. Close by, the solongoi blinks and looks around in some confusion. Last he remembers he was on a rocky mountain slope in Siberia, searching for a mate, and now he finds himself in an unfamiliar flat hot grassy land. The solongoi pops up on his hind legs to have a look around and sees a large shaggy shape by a carcass. CRACK goes a leg bone, as the hyena chomps it between its powerful molars. The solongoi hasn't had much to eat recently, the pikas and voles he usually hunts have been thin on the ground and he's been busy fighting other males for access to mates. Although he's not usually a scavenger, the smell of meat draws him in. The solongoi takes a few typical weasel like bounds towards the carcass. The movement catches the hyena's attention, who looks up from his meal. The hyena stares at what sort of looks like a mongoose or a meerkat and yet is not. Deciding to get rid of this unwanted visitor, the hyena trots towards the solongoi. Weasels are nothing if not fighters, & faced with a looming threat, the solongoi chirrs loudly at the hyena. The hyena, unfazed by small things making noise, continues to advance. As a last resort, the solongoi excretes "a foul, pungent odor" from his anal glands.The hyena stops for a second, takes a deep sniff, decides the smell is no worse that many of the semi rotten carcasses he's scavenged recently, and breaks into a rolling run. The solongoi, out of aggressive defensive strategies, chooses the age old defense of the small against the large. In the blink of an eye he turns slips into one of the many holes in a nearby termite mound. Brown hyena routs solongoi!

Victor: Brown Hyena

Tonight's Battle takes us to the wooded meadows of the Chaux d’Abel in the Swiss Jura Mountains, a sub-Alpine region of the Western Alps. Badger is ambling along his well-worn path toward a dug out earthen sett, returning from the forest edge latrine he uses most intensively in the springtime. Badger's skin is feeling a little loose from the weight he dropped over winter. He burned through several lbs of fat stores & he is now a lean, mean thirteen kilograms. The long sleek Genet streaks through clumped wet grass toward the nearby woods. The Genet's surface to mass ratio, so effective for not overheating in forested equatorial Africa, causes the mesopredator to dangerously shed heat, especially in this springtime dampness. Common genets in Spain and France, likely introduced by humans, reveal that these viverrids are poorly adapted for cold mountainous regions. At the forest edge, Genet stumbles onto the badger path right into Badger! Did you know that Chaux d'Abel Badgers are noted for their high consumption of... mammals? European badger eats giant forest genet!

Victor: European Badger

Our battle tonight takes us to the shores of Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan where the Caspian Seal is lounging on the shore, sleeping off some herring. Our Caspian Seal tonight has been feeling under the weather lately, and is resting up, her nose a bit runny. Perhaps that is the reason the seal doesn't smell the other contestant, the #Catsish Common Kusimanse, who, while far away from their native African forest habitat, is busily scent marking their new territory. However, Kusimanse tend to like forests near water, so the shores of the Caspian Sea will do very well, thank you very much. Ducking back behind a log, the Kusimanse looks back, stealing a furtive glance at the seal. The seal shuffles in its resting position, feeling listless. Emboldened by the apparent lack of threat, the wee Kusimanse advances, moving closer and closer to the seal. The seal's body has been fueled by fish, fish that have been swimming in persistent organic pollutants like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) & heavy metals like mercury and lead. Those chemicals have infiltrated the seal's body. The Kusimanse senses that this seal has invaded its new territory and it dances, bobs and barks to try and threaten the seal. The seal lumbers towards this loud, litlte, strange thing, but the Kusimanse isn't going to back down! Unfortunately for the Kusimanse, it seems like the heavy metal accumulation in seals don't occur at lethal levels. The seal lunges, but is slowed down by a cough, bloody spittle comes out and she feels weakened. The Kusimanse jumps and bites down on the seal's neck, striking hard, but not really making much of an impact on the seal's thick blubber. Fortunately for the Kusimanse, however, seals are susceptable to canine distemper. The exertion chasing the Kusimanse was too much for the compromised Caspian Seal and she succumbs. Common kusimanse defeats caspian seal!

Victor: Common Kusimanse

Our battle takes place in Batéké Plateau National Park, Gabon. This is a transitional landscape where Congolese forest reaches into the savannah. African civets are at home here. Nocturnal civet has been foraging in the savannah, chowing down on millipedes & centipedes during this wet season. So many new smells waft in the air for the kinkajou... but there is a siren scent sweetness... A great abundance of figs! Fig fruits are "the most important food of kinkajous" (Kays 1999) and our kinkajou bounds across the ground towards the fig bounty. Clamoring into a gap in the thicket, kinkajou is 10 feet from Civet! Civet had been contentedly feasting on fallen figs when kinkajou arrives! The civet faces the kinkajou but keeps its body sideways for maximal crest intimidation! A bit overkill as the civet outweighs kinkajou ~3-to-1. Vulnerable on the ground, the kinkajou abandons his dream of figs & climbs the closest tree back into the canopy of the Congolese rainforest. African civet intimidates kinkajou!

Victor: African Civet

Tonight's battle takes place in the Masoala-Makira protected area in NE Madagascar, the feliform fossa's home turf, home to over 1,000 of them. Apologies to the caniform grison, who has been dropped right in the middle of this muddy, wet, rugged rainforest. The grison takes the change with mustelid-like curiousity. It zigzags through undergrowth, popping it's head out onto a trail made by local zebu. Yes, the location is different; yes, there are terrestrial leeches. But the grison is used to rainforests. Grison rubs their musk against anything and everything. This is their territory now! *itsfreerealestate.jpg* Nearby, the fossa smells the intrusion. Intrigued, the fossa jumps into the trees, using their long tail as a balance as they nimbly run along the branches to the source of the smell. Meanwhile, the grison is zigzagging along the zebu trail, still marking happily. Little does the grison know that the fossa is following them from above. The fossa is a bit confused.There aren't a lot of creatures in the Malagasy rainforest that smell like the greater grison. But despite the smell, it does look a bit familiar. In fact, it looks a little like an Indri.

Sure, indri don't exactly trot along the ground, but it could be a young one that has fallen while jumping in the trees and is injured? The fossa launches from the branch, slamming into the the grison with enormous force. *CRUNCH* A skull bite slays the Grison before it even knew what hit it. Fossa crushes greater grison's skull!

Victor: Fossa

Tonight's battle takes place near La Selva Biological Station in Northern Costa Rica (I've been there! Lovely place. Saw some turtles. Would recommend). This protected lowland tropical rainforest is one of the most important tropical research sites in the world. It's late afternoon, and we just catch a glimpse of a long, dark, bushy tail disappear into the undergrowth. We're on the home turf of the tayra or, as it's known in Costa Rica, the tolomuco. He's quite the smart boi - this omnivore has stashed some plantains in a nearby tree and has been waiting for them to ripen before feasting. Right when he's about to climb the tree with his treasure, he hears something rustling nearby. Tayra doesn't have the greatest eyesight, but, like most of its Caniform relatives, it does have a great sense of smell. The tayra stands up on his back legs, sniffing the air. A very fancy little mongoose-like creature has appeared in the forest! The falanouc is only a few feet away from the ornery and plantain-protective tayra, but the falanouc is disoriented and groggy - he's normally asleep at this point in the day. The tayra lets out a low, threatening growl while moving his body up and down. No one's getting his plantains. The falanouc freezes for a moment - should he fight or live to fatten his tail another day? He opts for the latter, leaving the tayra to his plantains in peace. Tayra defeats falanouc!

Victor: Tayra

Tonight's final rumble takes place in Potatoso National Park in the Yunnan province of China, a region that both of our combatants call home. Red panda jumps easily from branch to branch high in trees high above the ground, using its long tail for balance. After finding the perfect bamboo tree, the red panda settles in for a fantastic folivorous feast (i.e., lots-o-leaves) when it notices the slightest rustle nearby. The spotted linsang is also foraging nearby and stalks an unsuspecting Tibetan dwarf hamster! Red panda is wary of the unknown sounds, so it begins to slowly raise and lower it's head while also creating a low-intensity puffing noise. Suddenly, the hamster employs an escape maneuver to avoid predation! Spotted linsang reacts with speed, easily moving across the branches, and unwittingly heads directly towards the red panda! SWIPE! Red panda uses its semi-retractable claws to defend itself! The spotted linsang avoids a major confrontation and leaves the field of play with slightly less hair on its tail. Red panda defeats spotted linsang!

Victor: Red Panda

Current Scores:
luckycordel: 7
Hashhog: 7
Rhy: 7
jacob5089: 6
607: 5

Sloth Bear

Pygmy Spotted Skunk

Solongoi

Brown Hyena

Giant Forest Genet

European Badger

Caspian Seal

Common Kisumanse

Kinkajou

African Civet

Fossa

Greater Grison

Tayra

Falanouc

Red Panda

Spotted Linsang

That's a lot to read, I'll do it later. (or not )
In any case I'm glad to see I've got the lowest amount of points at the moment, considering that I didn't do any research into the animals.

Round 2, Electric boogaloo
Results are synthesized from here.

The first round of the night is the Pygmy Hog versus Southern Ningaui. Our battle takes place at Manas Wildlife Sanctuary, UNESCO World Heritage Site that provides critical and viable habitats for rare and endangered species including tiger, greater one-horned rhino, swamp deer, pygmy hog & Bengal florican. It's near dawn at Manas, an optimal time for pygmy hogs to begin foraging for the day. Our 'large' male combatant snoofles in the duff around a grass hummock in search of grubs. The grasslands here are familiar to Southern Ningaui. Feeling a twinge of hunger, the Ningaui spies a centipede & attacks with a 'lunge-bite-retreat' to it's hind end to avoid the centipede's venomous bite. Pygmy hog grunts snuffles up, startling the Ningaui into dropping the centipede! Quickly bite-grabbing the centipede, Ningaui darts deeper into the grass thicket, quitting the field of battle. Pygmy Hog defeats Ninguai!

Victor: Pygmy Hog

Tonight's showdown takes place in Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi, in the foothills of the Patagonian Andes mountains. The oldest national park in Argentina, Nahuel Huapi borders Chile and includes temperate rainforests, giving the pudu home habitat advantage. While the fruit bat feels right at home in the dense understory of this new forest, the average temperature of ~50 degrees F is a much cooler than the bats' usual habitat. In order to keep its metabolism going, the bat better find some food quick! With their sense of smell that is 100,000x more sensitive to fruit odors than rats', our bat starts sniffing around for some tasty fruit. Meanwhile, the pudu has the same idea - searching for food. He is officially a 'picky' eater and does "not take large quantities of a single species of plant, but little bits of everything". You might think that the low slung pudu would stick to eating grass. But no! The pudu prefers high growing plants. To get at these lofty tender shoots and leaves, he has to climb. The pudu does climb, getting on his hind legs to bend a bamboo shoot horizontal, then hopping up delicately to use it as a bridge to reach the upper leaves of a tall bush. Meanwhile, the bat is out of luck - this new habitat doesn't have any of its favorite fruits like Piper (New World pepper plant), and it's getting pretty chilly. In order to save energy, the bat lands on a a nice horizontally bent bamboo shoot to take a break. Slowly drifting into torpor, the bat is so out of it, it doesn't hear the munching of the pudu next to its perch. After eating his fill, the pudu hops off of the bamboo. The bent branch ricochets upwards, sending the bat skyrocketing! Pudu catapults away the Seba's Short-tailed Bat!

Victor: Pudu

^^^This one's probably my favorite fight so far, definitely worth a read.

Tonight'sbout occurs in the lush, wet forests of Japan near Shiraito no Taki, on the outskirts of Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. Raccoon Dog is out aimlessly looking for food, and smells something suspicious! The Shrew is in a totally new territory, but is feeling at home in the moist leaf litter, and with a grumbling stomach, it has been searching for scrumptious insects and amphibians. Investigating the strange smell, Raccoon Dog unsuspectingly puts its nose next to the N. Short-tailed Shrew. Then there is a sudden rustle of leaves, a small squeak, and a chomp. The Raccoon Dog quickly snatches and eats the Northern Short-tailed Shrew without sustaining any damage. Raccoon Dog eats the Northern Short-tailed Shrew!

Victor: Raccoon Dog

Our scene tonight takes place in the Lama Forest Reserve in southern Benin. It is early evening, and Tree Hyrax is ready to descend from his perch to forage for leaves and fruits. Though Bank Vole finds himself in unfamiliar surroundings, he is undaunted by the settling darkness. Bank Voles are frequently active at twilight (what scientists call "crepuscular"), and he too sets out to look for seeds, nuts, or other tasty treats. But Bank Vole's search for dinner is interrupted by an odd sound. It starts as a squeak, and then rises to a pig-like squeal, and finally to a child-like scream. Bank Vole, with no nearby tunnel or nest to retreat to, freezes. The raucous shriek does not sound like a Eurasian kestrel or tawny owl, common predators of the Bank Vole in its native habitat. Its source is mysterious. Bank Vole's heart pounds as he waits, motionless, in the ensuing silence. The sound again pierces the growing velvet of night! Bank Vole bolts, fleeing the sound before its source, the Tree Hyrax, comes into view. Tree Hyrax gives a third call as Bank Vole scurries away across the forest floor, headed for quieter pastures. Tree Hyrax displaces Bank Vole!

Victor: Tree Hyrax

(Here's the noise a Hyrax makes if y'all were curious)

Tonight's Battle takes place in the Valdivian rainforest of southern Chile. Our Kodkod is curled, relaxing on a branch between his two nighttime activity bouts. When Kodkod sees a smol rodent... climbing the tree? Kodkod thinks it's a Chilean climbing mouse, the chipmunk-sized rodent that Kodkod routinely devours, but one that more typically clambers about bamboo shoots. Kodkod silently gathers his padded feet below his body's center of gravity in a crouch. Least chimpmunk notices the quietness of the forest & freezes on the tree trunk just above the Kodkod's branch, possibly hoping to eavesdrop on an informative alarm call. Kodkod is kitty-shimmying with predatory pounce readiness. As the Kodkod leaps, Least Chimpmunk dives into a treeholllow! Curses! The tree hollow is shallow and Kodkod's clawed paw slashes in, hooking the hide of the Least Chipmunk! Kodkod scarfs Least Chipmunk!

Victor: Kodkod

Shrew Opossum (Gray-bellied Caenolestid) finds itself on Santa Cruz island, which has 1000+ plants/animals (including 3 types of bats!). While not its native habitat, it can do well here and is excited by all the insects to eat. Caenolestid is spotted by island fox, who sees a tasty little treat. But unknown to the fox there is a raptor flying overhead… The raptor begins diving, talons out... Splash! Splash? This is a bald eagle, not a golden eagle! A restoration program relocated the golden eagles (and eliminated the feral pigs which attracted them), allowing the bald eagle to return to the islands. And Bald Eagles love to snatch fish... not foxes! The Island Fox, undistracted by eagle drop, does its own drop on Caenolestid! Island Fox eats Gray-bellied Caenolestid!

Victor: Island Fox

Tonight’s battle takes place in Sehlabathebe National Park, the first national park established in Lesotho, itself a tiny country completely surrounded by South Africa. Although rare here, the hedgehog is at home in these rolling grasslands. Finding itself here, the pika starts to build a haypile under a boulder. Collared pikas work around the clock to cache >15 kg of fresh plants to survive the winter. Being roughly spherical and super floof-y means the pika is a pro at conserving heat in cold climates, but in the warmer climate, all that busy busy generates heat, and the pika quickly overheats. As pika is frantically searching for shelter, it trips over something spiky, curled up and sleeping under the grass. It's the hedgehog! Hedgehog snorts, annoyed at being waken. Startled, pika dives into a mole rat burrow to beat the heat (of the battle and the habitat). But it gets stuck on the way in! Upon discovering the pika wriggling in the hole, the hedgehog anoints itself with the SCENT of VICTORY by licking the pika, frothing at the mouth, and spreading the scent on its own spines, which may make it less palatable to predators. Meanwhile, the pika manages to wriggle its super floof into the burrow, escaping both the hedgehog, the heat, and the field of battle. Southern African Hedgehog defeats Collared Pika!

Victor: Collared Pika

Our battle tonight takes place in the Khao Yai National Park, Thailand's First National Park. Accounting for time difference, it is early morning in Thailand. This dense rainforest habitat is nothing like the gibber plains of Australia & the nocturnal Kowari is all out of sorts. Despite being primarily a ground dweller, our Kowari is an adept climber & high-tails it (literally) into a nearby tree currently occupied by our Finlayson's Squirrel. Things have been dry in Australia & our Kowari is in search of water, which it gets from prey items. Common prey are insects, but this carnivorous marsupial will eat vertebrates, including rodents. Kowaris have even been known to consume vertebrate prey up to the size of Rats (54-280g) and European Rabbits! Finlayson's Squirrel is well within this range. Finlayson's Squirrel is happily foraging on flowers and seeds when it sees the Kowari climbing closer and closer. Kinlayson Squirrel emits an alarm call in response to this unknown animal. Kowari suddenly stops in response to this strange noise and eyes the Finlayson's Squirrel to assess its edibility. Finlayson's Squirrel continues its alarm calling & holds its ground... er, um, branch. Kowari jumps a foot and a half into the air at the loudly chirping squirrel! Thwonk! A Shikra, diving for the loudly alarming squirrel, instead catches a surprised Kowari! Kowari rather unwillingly leaves the field of battle. Finlayson's Squirrel defeats Kowari!

Victor: Finlayson's Squirrel

Current Scores:
luckycordel: 14
Hashhog: 13
Rhy: 12
jacob5089: 11
607: 9

Pygmy Hog

Southern Ninguai

Seba's Short-tailed Bat

Pudu

Raccoon Dog

Northern Short-tailed Shrew

Tree Hyrax

Bank Vole

Kodkod

Least Chipmunk

Island Fox

Gray-bellied Caenolestid

Collared Pika

Southern African Hedgehog

Finlayson's Squirrel

Kowari

I agree my favorite battle was the Pudu vs Short Tailed Bat too. Pretty funny slinging it into the air, that's one rude awakening!

Ah, I hadn't seen the art from different artists before! That's quite cool.
I'll read the fight that was your favourite. Heh, that's creative! I read some of the others too, it's nice.

One more thing I'll mention so that I don't forget (again): If you have any feedback regarding how the round's results are presented, just let me know. I'm down for any additions, subtractions, or overhauls, since I want to present the info in a way that's as enjoyable for y'all as possible.

Well, I'd say it's certainly a lot more readable this way than as tweets, so thanks.

Round 3, electric... jubilee? idk
Results are synthesized from here.

The first round of the night is the Florida Panther versus Chytrid Fungus. Our battle takes place in Everglades National Park at dawn, where both Florida Panthers and amphibian chytrid fungus occur. Our large 160 pound male combatant is stalking a group of racoons who are busy hunting crayfish on the edge of the swamp forest. The panther is a patient ambush predator but his hunger is getting the best of him. The panther RUSHES the group & the racoons scatter. An expert hunter, he grabs a racoon who had a crayfish mid-bite. The raccoon drops the crayfish in the hot sun... it's chytrid infected guts are splayed open & begin to bake while the panther caches his prey to consume later that night. Florida Panther desiccates Amphibian Chytrid Fungus!

Victor: Florida Panther

Tonight's battle is near Wintergreen Lake at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station Bird Sanctuary, an important part of the Michigan Trumpeter Swan restoration efforts in the 1980s. Along with Trumpeter Swans, the Sanctuary also boasts a lovely pollinator garden. Although not quite spring yet in Michigan, our Trumpeter Swan is not affected by the weather so long as water (and aquatic vegetation) is available. Honeybees can also be found at KBS & our bee is holed up in a hollowed-out tree cavity, part of a 'superorganism' where all bees work together to produce heat and stay warm. The Honeybees have begun rearing a new brood, but they are running low on honey which provides energy to the bees to keep the superorganism cluster warm. A bee on the outside of the cluster leaves the cavity to find nectar and pollen. Trumpeter Swan is resting nearby. Honeybee approaches. Without enough energy stores, the entire hive can die. This bee could provide vital information to the rest of the hive about available food resources. buzzzz..... Buzzzz..... BUZzzz..... BUZZzz..... BUZZZz..... BUZZZZZ..... Honeybee buzzes past the Trumpeter Swan as it continues to look for preferred colors and color contrasts indicative of flowers with pollen or nectar. Trumpeter Swan defeats Honeybee!

Victor: Trumpeter Swan

Our battle takes place in Drysdale River National Park, in Kimberly region of Western Australia. Traditional stewards of this land include Wilawila, Ngarinjin, Miwa & peoples. rock art in the region suggest thylacines were present here. A monarch has been cyclone-blown to Australia from New Caledonia flutters about the ferns and Kalumburu gum, looking for a milkweed plant to land on. A thylacine is roaming the semi-arid landscape looking for its next meal... but what is that meal? Although some folks have thought Thylacines hunted larger prey like kangaroos, skeletal evidence suggests they were ambush predators of medium-sized marsupials like possums. The Monarch butterfly lands on a Asclepias plant to lay her egg... SWFARSHK! Thylacine has ambushed a bandicoot, its wide gape snapping canines into the bandicoot's torso. Death hangs in the air, and will soon attract scavenging, ravenous insects such as the meat ant. Monarch flits away to lay her eggs where there is less action. Thylacine displaces Monarch Butterfly!

Victor: Thylacine

Tonight's battle takes place in the temperate seas of the eastern Atlantic. While the Cuttlefish technically has home habitat advantage today, the Bogue is also found in these waters. The Bogue swims along at 30' depth. They are hungry moving through the sea looking for small crustaceans, nibbling on every little bite they see. Nearby the Cuttlefish swims, it's been through a lot recently and he is looking a bit ragged, small bits of flesh sloughing off in the water. The Bouge is no slouch though and recognizes the Cuttlefish as a potential competitor, as they both target crustaceans. Darting forward they strike at the cuttlefish, nibbling on his sensitive tentacles. The Cuttlefish strikes back however, wrapping long muscular arms around the Bouge, suction cups rending scales from flesh and sending a slurry of fish bits into the cold, uncaring Atlantic. Bouge darts in and out, they find openings; the Cuttlefish doesn’t have any hard bits other than his beak and he has a highly specialized skin. Flashing in pain the Cuttlefish redoubles his effort. But Bouge is finding it harder and harder to navigate, they're swimming in a swarm of tentacles, all highly coordinated and swarming around. With no place to swim, they try to make a dash for it. However with a resounding THWACK a tentacle reaches out and wraps around the base of the Bogue's tail (known as a caudal peduncle) they struggle, but Bogue succumbs to the inevitable end. Cuttlefish Defeats Bogue! Rip boops boops.

Victor: Common Cuttlefish

Tonight's Battle takes place on a remote cattle station in the Northern Territory, of Australia. Americans would call a cattle station 'a ranch'. A team of camel jockeys on ATVs & motorbikes are chasing down feral camels to find a a suitable mount for the camel races! A large, strong male camel with sassy attitude & snappy response is spotted by the would-be jockey, who signals the team to close in, as she takes the lead toward him. Our particular Demodex folliculorum lives face down, booty up in a follicle of this would be camel jockey's eyelash. Drawing even with the tiring camel, the jockey's goggles' strap snaps, just as the camel spits in her face! Swiping the spit away, a tiny splinter of vegetative bark in the camel's cud slashes her eyelid, impaling Demodex! The camel jockey suspends the muster to irrigate her eye with a bottle of water. #PoursOneOutForTheHomieDemodex Australian Feral Camel defeats Face Mite!

Victor: Australian Feral Camel

The sun is setting over Pinnacles National Park in California. The condor is soaring towards the cliffside caves after foraging, ready to join his mate at their nest. Pinnacles National Park is one of the few places were condors have successfully nested in the wild. His mate is grooming their nestling's fluffy white down. The chick just hatched a few days ago, so the condors are sharing parental duties. Despite just hatching, the chick's eyes are wide open and it's ready for dinner! The seasons are changing and the little brown bat just emerged from its hibernacula in California. Thanks to a genetic variation that helped it start hibernation a little fatter, it's in fine fighting condition. The bat heads out, following the edge of a large cliff, snacking as it flies. Fluttering along, the bat spots a nice opening that might be a great spot to rest for a minute - little brown bat will often use night roosts, especially in cooler weather. The condor family has settled in for the night. Swoosh....swoosh swoosh. Swoosh swoosh swoosh.... What was that? One of the adult condors raises its head, trying to find the source of the strange noise. Swoosh,swoosh.... *thud*... Splat! The male condor has vomitted up his meal in defense - lovely, stinky, partially digesting meat is now splattered across the cave floor. In addition to the smell, vulture vomit is highly acidic - as low as 1-2 in pH, strong enough to burn! The little brown bat had not expected to find such large bird in the cave space, and had fallen to cave floor. Unlucky for the bat, it was hit with a big chunk of that acid-y meat. California Condor's stomach acid burns the Little Brown Bat!

Victor: California Condor

Tonight's bout takes place at the Women's Rights National Historic Site in Seneca Falls, NY. In this urban/residential environment, the house cat is at home, prowling the grounds where the first Women's Rights Convention met in 1848. The chinchilla feels less at home and is looking for some rocks to hide under or a nice, artificial tube to take cover in, while also unaware that the house cat is slowly approaching. Pounce! Now within close range, the house cat dives at the chinchilla! "Eek-eek" goes the chinchilla as it tries to escape with its powerful hind legs. But the house cat has grasped the chinchilla behind the head with its carnivorous dentition, and the house cat enjoys its dinner as the sun sets over Van Cleef Lake in Seneca, NY. House Cat devours Chinchilla!

Victor: House Cat

Tonight's battle takes place in the Conecuh National Forest of Alabama where the resident Gopher Tortoise is enjoying home habitat advantage, emerging from a burrow in an open canopy forest of long-leaf pine. The Gopher Tortoise makes its way to a nice warm and sunny spot to forage. The tortoise doesn't realize this area is sunny because it is the side of a highway, and 5 miles down the road a large truck is speeding along. The Feral Pigeon also finds itself on the same stretch of road, although it does not really feel like it is a novel environment. Feral Pigeons are associated with urban areas but will habituate any region with abundant food and reduced predators. Meanwhile, the truck continues to drive closer, and the driver doesn't see signs to look out for crossing Tortoises. Roadway collisions are a major threat to tortoises and other turtles. The Feral Pigeon spies some small invertebrates near the Tortoise and struts over to assert dominance. Competition for food among pigeons can be intense and this adult is not going to back down from a challenge. While an estimated 70% of hatchling Gopher Tortoises are predated in their first year, once they reach adulthood there are few natural predators and our full grown tortoise mostly ignores the Feral Pigeon As the roar of the truck nears both animals jump into action. The Pigeon flaps its wings and takes off into the air, while the Gopher Tortoise which cannot move as quickly as the bird begins to amble along the pavement. Wham-Splat! A puff of feathers erupts from the truck grill and floats down around the Tortoise, who was just safely to the side of the road. The Pigeon is the latest statistic: over 80 million birds in the US die each year from collisions with cars. Gopher Tortoise survives. Feral Pigeon dies!

Victor: Gopher Tortoise

Current Scores:
luckycordel: 21
Hashhog: 20
jacob5089: 17
Rhy: 17
607: 15

Florida Panther

Chytrid

Honeybee

Trumpeter Swan

Thylacine

Monarch Butterfly

Bogue (Boops Boops!)

Common Cuttlefish

Australian Feral Camel

Face Mite

Little Brown Bat

California Condor

House Cat

Chinchilla

Feral Pigeon

Gopher Tortoise

I, too, am just a tiny bit toast. But before I can discuss why...

Results are synthesized from here.

Our battle takes place tonight in the Fly River, on the coast of Papua New Guinea. Here we find the adaptable Amoeba encasing a piece of detritus off the foot of a foraging prawn via a pseudopod and slowly pulling it into its body. But there is another creature lurking in these estuarine waters. The Fly river is also home to something larger, something that has evolved vertebrae and teeth: The Speartooth Shark. Like all River sharks, the Speartooth shark is carnivorous, and tonight the Speartooth shark is hungry. Approaching through the muddy water the Speartooth uses its Ampullae of Lorenzini to sense electrical pulses of the prawn. Then, when close the speartooth rocks its head back and forth. And as the Speartooth shark cuts its prey with its teeth it circles around and consumes the remains, including the Amoeba living on top of the prawn. Speartooth Shark defeats Amoeba!
(Without defeating the shark, there was very little chaos in this amoeba.)

Victor: Speartooth Shark

Our battle takes place near the the Umred Pauni Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary near Nagpur in central India. The park is famous for its tigers, as well as other amazing wildlife like pangolins, barking deer, and cobras. Blinking in the sun, the long-legged bat spots something that looks familiar - a road culvert. These bats like to roost near water, such as in culverts, tunnels, under bridges and in caves. Unknown to bat, this is also the current resting spot of a cobra. Cobras don't like to be intruded upon. The cobra rasies itself up to about 1/3rd of its body length and hisses at the intruder. Snakes aren't really social creatures, so the hissing sound is more of a way to scare of predators. The Cobra’s stares at the bat mid-HISSSSS, its unblinking eyes focused on the bat and waiting to strike, but the HISSSSSS already alerted the bat! The long-legged bat, using its long tail membrane like a rudder, agilely steers away from the hissing snake, and heads back into the sun to find another place to rest. Indian Cobra scares away the Long-legged Bat!

Victor: Indian Cobra

Tonight's battle takes place in the home habitat of the sawfish, the warm coastal waters of Everglades National Park. Our sawfish is swimming in the waters where the sea grasses and the mangroves mingle, its body awash in the warm water, living as it did before the scourge of gill nets, water reclamation plans, and habitat destruction. Today our sawfish has a visitor, however. A small crustacean, flying through the water seeking its home and future shelter. This is the mobile larval stage of our other protagonist, the Acorn barnacle. The Acorn barnacle is normally found in cooler waters, and the waters of the Everglades with their warm temperature and low salinity are distasteful to the wee barnacle. While affixed permanently as adults, barnacle larvae have choice in the matter, and this one is not pleased. She seeks new waters and extends her larval phase until she smells her own kind. The barnacle leaves, its presence unknown and unrecognized, leaving the sawfish to advance. Sawfish defeats Acorn Barnacle!

Victor: Largetooth Sawfish

Our scene begins in Loango National Park, Gabon. Both of our contenders are endemic to Western Africa, so neither species has home habitat advantage. Gorilla lives in a typical group: he is the sole adult male, and is surrounded by multiple females and offspring. Like most gorillas, this group spends most of their time eating and resting, which they are doing now. As the gorilla group lounges and feeds on vegetation, there is a rustling in the nearby undergrowth. Gorilla looks up and sees a group of humans on an ecotourism adventure approaching. Gorilla is not alarmed. His group is habituated to humans' presence. He simply rolls over and continues foraging. The humans stop and begin to quietly observe the gorillas. One man (we'll call him Stu) removes his dark sunglasses to rub his eye, which is red and inflamed. As the members of the ecotourism group snap photographs, a Chrysops fly lands on Stu's arm and helps itself to a delicious blood meal. In the process, it ingests a number of the Loa Loa offspring (called microfilariae) that are circulating in Stu's bloodstream. Stu swats at the fly. It dodges his hand and takes off, heading directly toward Gorilla. The Stu-fly wends its way closer to unsuspecting Gorilla... closer... closer... But the Stu-fly don't bother Gorilla! These vector flies do not appear to feed on other primate species. Stu-fly reverses course, returning to bite one of the other tourists instead. There is another flurry of fly-swatting, noisier this time, and Gorilla decides he has had enough of the humans' presence. Gorilla directs some mild threats toward the humans, and the ETHICAL tour guides, not wanting to disturb the gorillas, quickly herd the tourists (and the trailing Stu-fly) away. Gorilla defeats Filarial Nematode!

Victor: Gorilla

It's early evening and the sun is starting to set over the shallow, coastal waters off of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Despite a light breeze, the surface of the water is calm. The silence is broken by a sound similar to a sharp exhale. A large female harbor porpoise is surfacing for air. While she can dive as deep as 200m, she's been having a lazy afternoon in shallower waters. She's feeling peckish and starts diving to find food. She needs to eat roughly 10% of her weight in fish each day! Below her on the seafloor, the short-snouted seahorse is scrambling. It's far from the coastal waters of the UK and exposed to predators in the sparse seabed. They need to anchor themself to a rock or some seagrass and then blend in. Seahorse isn't usually one to move themself, preferring to literally go with the flow in the ocean currents. They're drifting towards an ideal sort of rock, the kind a seahorse would just love to call home. As the porpoise echolocates for food, she senses some delicious hake right above the seahorse! The porpoise picks up speed as she races through the depths towards the unsuspecting seahorse, who is just about to tail hitch onto some sparse seagrass, when the porpoise becomes entangled in a net! The porpoise had sensed hake that were already trapped in a bottom set gillnet and now the porpoise is caught too! As the porpoise struggles to free herself, she only tightens and traps herself more. The anchored poles shake from the porpoise's mortal struggles, but the gillnet is unyielding. The porpoise's thrashing becomes more feeble, until eventually the gillnet flows gently with the current and the lifeless bycatch bobs. Seahorse, oblivious, changes color to match the seagrass and starts foraging for prey. Seahorse defeats Harbor Porpoise!

Victor: Seahorse

Tonight's battle takes place in the Reserva Biológica Río Plátano in Honduras. This location is in the geographic distribution of both the iguana and the booby. Our red-footed booby is returning to its treetop nest ready to regurgitate some squid only to discover a green iguana splayed out on a nearby limb. The green iguana is surprised by the arrival of the booby, almost as surprised as Alan Rickman from the end of Die Hard Red-footed Booby defeats Green Iguana!

Victor: Red-footed Booby

SCENE: SARUS CRANE, walking carefully through a flooded field in the ANLUNG PRING SARUS CRANE CONSERVATION AREA, south Cambodia.

SARUS CRANE: Through labor and the blessings of the gods did my mate and I raise one fledgling from two eggs. The blessings of the gods were numerous indeed, but hard work was surely not lacking on our parts. And as the rain follows the sun, does hunger follow labor.

CHORUS: What is this we spy, bedraggled, garbed in mud and wet, not far off from where SARUS CRANE hunts? Surely it is the strange ZOKOR, as foreign to this land as snow!

ZOKOR: O, gods, where are you? And where am I? Only the span of a breath passed, and I was ripped so violently from my dry burrow, my home that I have so industriously dug, with these two paws I see before me, to this flooded forest.

ZOKOR: My burrow, a palace of such depth and length. A place the gods could not hope to enter, though the winds blow, and the snow gathers like soldiers at the gate. Let me die if once a lie has passed my snout about the wonders of my burrow!

ZOKOR: To my beautiful burrow! The open air does not agree with me. I fear the worst. [swimming/crawling through the grassy field] But what is this? I am arrested, stuck. And something tightens about my neck, not fear, nay, but a noose of grass!

SARUS CRANE: What is that I hear? An intriguing rustle, out of rhythm with the general sway of the grass in the arms of the wind, as discordant to the ear as a dog's bark? I shall investigate!

CHORUS: The thread is tied, and so quickly do the hands of the FATES tighten it. Pulled, as inexorably as the rain follows the sun, is the SARUS CRANE to the struggling ZOKOR.

SARUS CRANE: What is this before me? A meal, bestowed upon me from the gods? Fine beak, do not hesitate, do not dull, as I snatch this meal from the grass!

ZOKOR: What is this above me? Death, punishment for my hubris? Let me escape, to return to my burrow, I pray!

CHORUS: Pray not again. No mortal can escape the doom prepared for them.

Sarus Crane stabs Zokor!
(Yes, this is how the fight was written.)

Victor: Sarus Crane

Tonight's battle takes place in mountainous valleys of Sarek National Park in the Lapland region of Northern Sweden, where Wolverine and Lynx both live. Here semi-domestic reindeer range free, with migrating herds managed exclusively and extensively by Indigenous Sámi people. Efficient ambush predator and obligate carnivore Lynx has brought down a reindeer and tucks in to consume the preferred large limb muscles. In the Sarek National Park, "Lynx is an efficient predator on reindeer providing a reliable year round food source for wolverines" as wolverine scavenge at 68% of Lynx reindeer kill sites, and right on cue, our Wolverine arrives at the Lynx reindeer kill site. Happens 29% of the time! Lynx glare-stares at the Wolverine, and Wolverine looks over at Lynx as though to say "No, no, no, no- please go ahead. Wolverine dentition and skull is adapted to bone-crushing accessing nutritious parts of the carcass that Lynx can't. Will the Lynx lunge in to send Wolverine packing? Will Wolverine attack Lynx for ownership of the kill? Answer: neither! Lynx's primary male rival has arrived to aggressively challenge for the territory! Lynx, already exhausted from bringing down a reindeer, decides discretion is the better part of valor and retreats, but Lynx's challenger pursues him over the snowy cliff! The lynx grapple, rolling in the snow, when the challenger's canine penetrates lynx's skull! Above the conspecific male-male competition, Wolverine requisitions the reindeer carcass. Wolverine outlasts Lynx!

Victor: Wolverine

Current scores:
luckycordel: 27
Hashhog: 27
jacob5089: 24
Rhy: 22
607: 19

Amoeba

Speartooth Shark

Long-legged Bat

Indian Cobra

Largetooth Sawfish

Acorn Barnacle

Gorilla

Filarial Nematode

Harbor Porpoise

Seahorse

Red-footed Booby

Green Iguana

#TeamSarusCrane

Zokor

Lynx

Wolverine

Um, this seems inconsequent.

Also, what?

Yep, I goofed. Speartooth Shark won, not Amoeba. Post has been fixed.
Also, idk what the thing about Die Hard was, I haven't seen the movie and it was in the post. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Starting off with the second round of the bracket...
Results are synthesized from here.

Our battle again takes place in the early morning hours at the Manas Wildlife Sanctuary in northeast India, where the last remaining populations of Pygmy Hogs can be found. Pygmy Hog is just waking up in its nest among his preferred habitat of tall grasses and he starts thinking about breakfast, which normally includes roots, insects, rodents (!!!), and small reptiles. The tall grasses are disorienting to our Finlayson's Squirrel and he would rather be up a tree. Our squirrel looks about nervously. Finlayson's Squirrel hears rustling in the grasses. Being a squirrel, Finlayson's Squirrel loudly vocalizes in alarm. Pygmy Hog does not take kindly to intruders and runs straight at Finlayson's Squirrel, tusks glinting against the rising sun. With nowhere to run and not adapted for movement among the tall grasses, Finlayson's Squirrel is at the mercy of the Pygmy Hog. Pygmy Hog shows no mercy! Pygmy Hog eviscerates Finlayson's Squirrel!

Victor: Pygmy Hog

Tonight's Battle takes place in the Santa Rosa National Park in Costa Rica. Exploring this novel area, the Kusimanse trots by the base of a Manilkara zapota tree near the den of the Tayra. Kusimanse pauses right at the opening of the Tayra's den. Inside the den, Tayra watches the Kusimanse... is it a possum? Well, whatever it is, the 1kg size is right at the top of Tayra's prey mass. Kusimanse starts stalking a spider walking amongst the life litter as the Tayra's slender and strong body slips silently from the den, but Kusimanse spots the Tayra and bolts away! Tayra are not ambush predators- the mustelid picks up speed to chase his quarry down. Kusimanse runs up a low sloping tree over a small pool to escape... but Tayra is right behind Kusimanse up the tree! Turning to confront the Tayra, Kusimanse arches his back, extends his front limbs with sharp claws, and puffs out all his hair, including his tail. Undaunted by tiny piloerection, Tayra slashes with strong, sharp claws! The Kusimanse loses balance and falls into the shallow waters of the pond as the Tayra watches from the branch. The Kusimanse is unhurt, and runs off to the underbrush to escape Tayra. Tayra defeats Common Kusimanse!

Victor: Tayra

Tonight, we are at Parque Nacional Chiloé in the western region of the Isla Grande de Chiloé, Chile, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It's a lovely fall evening in the Valdivian temperate rainforest and our male Pudu is gearing up for mating season. The wet, rainforest habitat is not at all preferred by our Hedgehog. He lifts and shakes his feet uncomfortably as they slip on the soft, slippery ground. Our male Pudu is on the prowl for a potential mate and uses his acute sense of smell (olfaction) to investigate the area around him. Suddenly, he smells something novel and unusual. It's Hedgehog with eau de la Pika! Pudu does not like this pungent smell in its territory. He crouches and scratches at the ground, warning the intruder he is NOT to be messed with. Hedgehog makes a weak twittering sound, signaling his uneasiness in this strange, wet forest. Pudu's hard little hooves are coming closer and closer. But, wait, what's this? Another male Pudu has entered the field of battle. He too smelled the anointed Hedgehog, but more importantly, our Pudu. Hormone levels and aggression are high in both males as they prepare for mating season. Our Pudu eyes this new male as they both display their antlers and shoulders, trying to show each other who's bigger (but they're still both tiny). Both Pudu are so distracted, they don't hear the faint crunch of leaf litter behind them. Sensing an opportunity for escape, our Hedgehog zooms away into the underbrush, straight into the path of a domestic dog! Too bad dogs are known to kill hedgehogs, in spite of their spines! CHOMP! Pudu outlives the Hedgehog!

Victor: Pudu

Tonight's Battle takes place in Udegeyskaya Legenda National Park, in the southeastern corner of Russia. Although still within the home habitat of Raccoon Dog, the cold snowy air is an unexpected change from last week. While fluffy, Raccoon Dogs lack dense fur on their bellies and legs. With little paws that lack dense fur, Raccoon Dogs are sensitive to frostbite and cannot travel in deep snow. Our Raccoon Dog is hungry but struggling to hunt in adverse conditions. Island Fox finds this habitat cold compared to the sunny hills of the Channel Islands. There, temps rarely drop below 5°C (41°F). Despite needing food, it quickly searches for a place to curl up and stay warm. Cold and hungry, the Raccoon Dog decides its best to go take a nap. Raccoon Dogs the only canids which undergo seasonal hibernation in winter. In far northern habitats when food becomes scarce and snow is abundant, this torpor can last until March. Our chilly Raccoon Dog spies a nice looking tree hollow to escape the cold and climbs inside, only to find it occupied by another Raccoon Dog! Meanwhile, the Island Fox found a small burrow and attempts to shiver for warmth. Shivering stimulates the body to consume brown fat cells for energy. But this fox has consumed far from the 213g of fresh animal matter to meet daily energy budgets. Rather than get aggressive at the newcomer, both Raccoon Dogs snuggle together! To survive deep cold spells without lowering body temperatures like other hibernating mammals, Raccoon Dogs employ group huddling, spending 84% of winter days within their pairs. Alone, cold, and hungry, Island Fox shivers slow until it drifts into a forever sleep. Raccoon Dog out-survives Island Fox!

Victor: Raccoon Dog

Tonight's battle in the Chitwanna National Park in Nepal, located in the southern foothills of the Himalayas. Sloth bear has home habitat advantage tonight, since the bears are often found in the Beeshazaar lake region of the park, which is a much lower elevation than Red panda is used to. Red panda is feeling the heat and climbs a nearby tree to seek some shade. It's not a bamboo tree, but it will do for now. Sloth bear forages nearby for termites while also sniffing the wind for any hints of fruits. In general, Sloth bears are not aggressive mammals. However, they have poor hearing and eyesight, which means predators like Bengal tigers (which also inhabit Chitwanna NP) can get close to an unsuspecting bear. However, tonight, there are no tigers in sight. Sloth bear climbs a sal tree (Shorea robusta) in hopes of getting a delicious fruit snack. Instead of fruit, the Sloth bear discovers a hot (and now bothered) Red panda! Both caniforms stand their ground. Red panda stands up and shakes its head then lifts a forepaw with the intent to strike! Sloth bear raises its own massive forepaw, showing its even larger claws. Red panda quickly turns and jumps away through the tree branches, leaving Sloth bear to enjoy a fruit snack in peace. Sloth Bear unseats Red Panda!

Victor: Sloth Bear

Tonight's battle takes place in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Civet noses around at night looking for meal when he hears an unfamiliar sound! It lowers its hindquarters to a sitting posture and then stands with one forepaw raised looking towards the sound. It's a European badger! He is trying to dig an opening for his new sett at the base of a tree. He's alone in a novel environment and not sure what to do. Most of a civet's diet comes from insects, wildfruit, and rodents, but they can go 2 weeks without eating. However, this badger is badgering him. He approaches his prey cautiously. Badger, annoyed by this voracious viverrid, prepares to protect himself. Civet, using an attack reserved for larger prey items, directs his first bite at the badger's skull. He then uses his forepaw to hold down the badger while pieces are pulled off by the incisors. African Civet defeats European Badger!

Victor: African Civet

Our battle takes place in Kakum National Park in Ghana, home of the higher-ranked Tree Hyrax. Although both combatants live in tropical forests, African rainforest canopies like this one have fewer lianas and vines than South American forests. Kodkod is not used to this forest structure, but luckily it is relatively flexible in its habitat requirements, so it begins to creep through the canopy looking for its next meal. It's dusk. Kodkod has not eaten since it scarfed the Least Chipmunk. Most rodents in this forest are terrestrial and the kodkod is not accustomed to hunting primates. Suddenly Kodkod spots a rustling in a nearby Velvet Tamarind branch. It's the Tree Hyrax! This would be an ambitious meal since Tree Hyrax outweighs Kodkod by 50%, but Kodkod is growing desperately hungry and moves below Hyrax to take a closer look in hopes that Hyrax may be weak or injured, which would give Kodkod an advantage. Unfortunately for Kodkod, Tree Hyrax appears to be strong and healthy, and despite its short stumpy legs, Tree Hyrax is remarkably agile in the forest canopy. It's also quite saucy. Noticing Kodkod on the branch below, Tree Hyrax arches its back, stamps its feet, and raises the hairs on its back. Tree Hyrax then pugnaciously confronts tiny Kodkod by leaping down to the same branch and letting out a loud shriek. Right. In. Its. Face. Kodkod's assessment is complete. Tree Hyrax is no easy meal. With its ambush location exposed, Kodkod turns tail to hunt elsewhere. Tree Hyrax backs down Kodkod!

Victor: Tree Hyrax

ASIA: Hello everyone and welcome to a MMM tag team presentation. Our contestants, the Fierce Fossa and the Hyenid Horror, are preparing for their next match.

ANNE: Hold that thought. We're getting an update from the live predation cam at Wolf Bay, Namibia!

ASIA: Looks like the brown hyena has decided to take a vacation from Botswana to join some friends who have been raining down death on seal pups for several months here at the Bay. What carnivore could resist? Like a cute immobile hotdog.

ANNE: Indeed. As we’ve seen in past months, brown hyenas can take this to excess and kill more pups than they can eat, a behavior known as ‘surplus killing” seen in quite a few species of carnivores.

ASIA: *cough* AND HUMANS *cough*

ANNE: However, our brown hyena has come a little too late to get the peak of pup carnage. The cam's regular viewers will remember when Ingrid Wiesel counted 482 pups killed by hyenas in Dec/Jan. Now it's March, the pups are a few months old and not such easy prey. Ah, here comes our hyena, we'll see how it does. *peers through binoculars*

ASIA: Gimmie those, there's something moving further down the shore, I'd recognize that long tail anywhere! The fossa!

ANNE: Looks like they're both going for the same seal pup.

ASIA: Yep. Fossa's trying to gain some sort of height advantage, stalking behind some of the rocks. The fossa might try for it's classic skull crunching bite.

ANNE: That's the brown hyena's go-to as well. Works well when the pups are really young and their skull sutures are still open. Might not work for the fossa now, though. Of course, the brown hyena's bite force is almost 4x stronger than a fossa's.

ASIA: Oh! Looks like the fossa's going for it! Not a skull-crunching bite, but a suffocating one, clamped right down on the seal's neck, like a big cat!

ANNE: Quite a struggle here. Brown hyena is very interested. Quite a dogged hold the fossa has on the seal pup. Looks like the seal's about done...ANNNND here comes the hyena, running straight for the two. As you may remember, he chased cheetahs off a kill.

ASIA: Well, a fossa is smaller than a cheetah. But, unlike cheetahs, fossa aren't scaredy cats! This will be a fight to the death! There's no way the Fossa will abandon its kill!

ANNE: ...the fossa just abandoned its kill.

ANNE: Don't feel too bad about it, Asia. The brown hyena is 4x bigger than the fossa. Don't fossa stop being active during the day to avoid coming into contact with dogs in Madagascar? Dogs are much smaller than brown hyenas.

ASIA: *whispers* just...just let me grieve.

Brown Hyena runs off Fossa!

Victor: Brown Hyena

Current Scores:
luckycordel: 37
Hashhog: 35
jacob5089: 34
Rhy: 26
607: 25

The reason that I'm slightly toast is because all of the animals I have advancing past this next round on the left of the bracket have lost, except for the Brown Hyena, which I only have going one more round. The right side of the bracket had better be good to me. :I

Results are synthesized from here.

Our battle is a return to our Round 1 location: the Umred Pauni Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary near Nagpur in central India. Our seahorse begins tonight's battle transported from its normal marine habitat to a freshwater stream. And really, "battle" might be a bit of an overstatement. Seahorse, in freshwater surroundings with salinity below 0.5 ppt, has more than the cobra to deal with, its environment is working against it Lacking the sodium pump that freshwater dwellers have evolved to cope with osmotic balancing, seahorse's tissues degrade as it rapidly loses salt to the environment. Seahorse's cells burst as fresh water floods them. Cobra, crossing the stream, hardly notices as it swims past the seahorse's bloated remains. Cobra defeats Seahorse!

Victor: Indian Cobra

Our battle tonight occurs in the estuaries of the Fly River off the southern coast of Papua New Guinea. The Red-Footed Booby is soaring above and spots a school of fish to dive bomb. The Red-Footed Booby feeds almost exclusively on fish, with a particular penchant for a group called halfbeaks. Luckily for the Booby one of its favourite species, the ribbon halfbeak are known to frequent shallow bays like the Fly River Delta. The Booby is frequently found in off shore islands and is used to diving into deep water, however the Fly River delta isn't deep water and the Booby slams into the turbid water. The Booby rockets past the surface skimming halfbeak and slams down into the water hitting its head on a submerged rock 4 m down, which is less than the average diving depth. Stunned, the Booby slowly swims up to the surface where it just has to catch its breath for a moment. With the strong tropical sunlight shining down, the bird presents a silhouette from below. The splash represents a novel stimulus and piques the interest of another resident of the Fly River delta. Living in murky water, the Speartooth Shark has to marshal a suite of sensory abilities to find its food, it's able to see, smell, hear and sense its prey. While the water is murky, the splash drew the Shark closer, and upon circling closer to investigate the backlit form stands out. The Speartooth Shark is curious and hungry. When the only thing you have is a mouth, the only way you can interact with something is by biting it. The Shark moves up to investigate the stunned Booby and bites down. The Booby struggles, but it's confused, concussed, and ultimately consumed. Speartooth Shark defeats Red-footed Booby!

Victor: Speartooth Shark

For tonight's battle, we again return to the Everglades National Park which although foreign to the Crane, appears similar enough for her to start poking around the marshes for food. With a stab stab here and a poke poke here, the Saurus crane starts to wander deeper into the coastal marshes, away from the inshore plants and into the open shallows. It's early morning (7:30), which is the prime feeding time for Sarus Cranes. This time of morning is also busy for the Sawfish, which is moving from its resting in warmer shallower waters into cooler deeper waters where it spends its days. The early morning light strikes the water at a low angle and reflects into the eyes of the crane making it difficult for the crane to see exactly what it is stabbing. The long bill of the crane pierces through the water and strikes neither a frog, nor crayfish, but rather the pectoral fin of the sawfish. The sawfish, like all elasmobranchs, has a skeleton made of cartilage, not bone, although its skin is covered with hard tooth-like structures, known as dermal denticles. These denticles, however, do not stop the force of the crane's strike. The sawfish whirls around lashing out with its toothy rostrum. The large teeth lash about and catch the Crane in the ankle, piercing the skin and rupturing the tendon. The crane leaps off into the sky above this strange and dangerous habitat, while the sawfish, injured, but victorious, advances. Sawfish defeats Sarus Crane!

Victor: Largetooth Sawfish

Tonight's battle takes place in seaside Hobart, Tasmania in late March 1926, in the twilight of Thylacine existence. Cuttlefish is just offshore in the Hobart Harbor, checking out the new environment. Cuttlefish are found off the NW coast of mainland Australia near the Tropic of Capricorn, but Tasmania is 150 miles (240km) south of the mainland, were water is a bit cooler. The Cuttlefish cautiously moves closer to shore, altering its skin color and texture as it moves, hoping the shallower water will be slightly warmer. But where is the Thylacine? Trapped in the Hobart Zoo! Sensing no predatory threat, Cuttlefish forages in the still undeveloped ecosystem of Hobart's waterways, since this is the natural habitat and where the battle should be. In the Hobart Zoo, Thylacine is agitated in his enclosure. It's dinnertime and the temperatures are dropping drastically toward a record low. In the Hobart harbor, Cuttlefish is somewhat buffered from these air temperature fluctuations because of the specific heat of water and the fact that water surface temperature changes less rapidly than temperature on land. Suddenly, the notoriously volatile Tasmanian weather causes howling wind as the temperature plummets to the low 20's (F) and the Thylacine is frantic to get out of the exposed yard and into its den box inside the building! The zookeeper appears and opens the gate for Thylacine to go into his den box and scarf his dinner! UNLIKE on Sept 7th, 1936 when the last Thylacine was left exposed to perish in the cold at Hobart Zoo. Human captivity deprives Thylacine from reaching the field of battle, but worse, human action deprived the Thylacine from reaching the 21st Century. Cuttlefish continues foraging for fishes in Hobart's harbor, unaware a battle has even taken place. Cuttlefish outlasts Thylacine!

Victor: Common Cuttlefish

Today, our flying foes find themselves in Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge in SW Wyoming (homeland of the Shoshone people), where Trumpeter Swans have made a resurgence since the early 1990s. Condor, used to the deserts of south central California, is surprised to find himself in the cooler temperatures of Swan's habitat. But, soaring high in the sky, he spots a mule deer carcass and descends to investigate. This, at least, is familiar. But that sound is not! Upon landing, Condor hears Swan bugling nearby. Nesting Trumpeter Swans are highly territorial and will violently attack animals that intrude their space. But Trumpeter Swans typically do not lay their eggs until April or May! Right now, Swan is peacefully foraging for aquatic plants with the other members of his small flock. Condor approaches the mule deer remains. When a large meal is available, condors have been known to gorge themselves to the point of being unable to fly for several hours after eating. This condor, however, has been having trouble eating lately, and his crop (the enlarged part of the esophagus used for temporary food storage in some birds) is distended! LEAD POISONING! Lead exposure, usually the result of condors ingesting fragments of lead ammunition as they scavenge, remains a significant threat to these birds of prey. "The toxic metal causes [condors] to starve to death because they can't hold any food down" and "the end stage of lead poisoning blocks their throats from moving meat out of their pouchlike crops. Some birds just stop eating." Thus, like Tantalus beneath an unreachable fruit tree, Condor is unable to sate his hunger. He finally abandons his attempts to swallow the chunks of flesh he has ripped from the mule deer, weakly flaps his wings, and rises back into the sky. Trumpeter Swan, disturbed by Condor's take-off, bobs his head and hisses at the retreating raptor. Trumpeter Swan vanquishes California Condor!

Victor: Trumpeter Swan

Tonight's battle takes place in the Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary, a former cattle station that has been bought by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, and home to the world's largest cat-proof fence! Our camel is browsing on the semi-arid vegetation as the distant sound of a chopper echoes across the landscape. Having narrowly escaped an aerial cull several years ago, our camel begins racing and collides into a fence, tearing it down. Although typically electrified, fear of bushfires has made the fence less of a deterrent than usual. Through the fence gap, our house cat sneaks and begins sniffing around for delicious bilby, burrowing bettong and Rufous hare-wallaby. The helicopter fades in the distance and the cat discovers the potent siren smell of a skinless sausage - did a staff member drop their lunch? As the camel resumes browsing, the cat snarfs down the sausage, swallowing large chunks sheared off by carnassials that aren't effective at grinding, not even noticing a hard pellet embedded in the sausage! In the cat's stomach, the pellet dissolves, delivering a lethal dose of para-aminopropiophenone. Camel outlives House Cat!

Victor: Australian Feral Camel

It's midday, and the the air is still and oppressively humid over the swamps of Ntokou-Pikounda National Park in the Republic of Congo. Our cold-adapted wolverine is truly not about this heat. Wolverine rests for a moment in the tepid swamp water, contemplating what to do next, when they hear weak rustling in a nearby bush. Wolverine makes their way over to investigate and finds a duiker caught in a wire snare. The duiker struggles feebly as it sees the wolverine approach. Wolverine quickly puts duiker out of its misery, glad to grab an easy meal in this heat. Just as Wolverine is ripping the sinew binding the duiker's leg to its body, Wolverine freezes. Camouflaged among the vegetation sits our massive silverback gorilla. Gorilla had been quietly observing the wolverine. Wolverine is about the same size as an African Civet, but the way wolverine tore up the duiker was much more threatening. The hot, cranky, and hangry Wolverine sizes Gorilla up, and takes his meal to go! Gorilla defeats Wolverine!

Victor: Gorilla

Both Florida Panther and Gopher Tortoise are found in the Big Cypress National Preserve, no home habitat advantage tonight. Gopher Tortoise is active this evening. The temperature is right and mating season is around the corner, but the day is done and it's time to return to the burrow. The hard shells of Gopher Tortoises can *usually* protect them from predators. The raccoon devoured by Florida Panther in Round 1 was just a snack. Florida Panther is still hungry and is on the prowl. Florida Panther spots a rabbit and takes chase, bowling over Gopher Tortoise! Rabbit is on its way to the Gopher Tortoise burrow, running for his life! Florida Panther chases rabbit into the Gopher Tortoise burrow, but he is too big to enter! Panther begins to dig after the rabbit. Gopher Tortoise does not take lightly to being knocked off course by Florida Panther and continues towards his burrow. Seeing Florida Panther blocking the entrance to his burrow, Gopher Tortoise takes a bite of cat tail, startling Florida Panther away from the burrow entrance! Turtles can be quite aggressive and Gopher Tortoise stands his ground and charges at Florida Panther. Florida Panther stands his ground and faces off against Gopher Tortoise. Gopher Tortoise realizes he has made a huge mistake and retreats into its shell. Florida Panther begins to bat and bite at Gopher Tortoise. Gopher Tortoise shelters in place while Florida Panther tries to figure out how to crack the Tortoise shell. Other felids, like Jaguars, are pretty adept at breaking into Tortoise shells, but Puma felids like the Florida Panther do not have the same skills as Jaguars. Florida Panther loses interest in Gopher Tortoise just as rabbit bolts from the burrow. Florida Panther chases the rabbit and is lured away from the field of battle. Gopher Tortoise survives Florida Panther!

Victor: Gopher Tortoise

Current Scores:
luckycordel: 43
Hashhog: 43
jacob5089: 38
Rhy: 36
607: 29

...and with this round, all five of our championship contenders have lost. Rest in peace to the Sarus Crane (my guy ;-; ), the Fossa (sorry 607), and the Florida Panther (lucky, Hash, and jacob). It looks like some of us have just about maxed out on our points, so how will the final four rounds go? Tune in soon (TM) to find out!

This has certainly not gone as hoped, but fingers crossed!

We're getting down to the wire...
Results are synthesized from here.

It's nearly dawn in the Jessore Sloth Bear Sanctuary in Gujarat province, India, which was created in 1978 explicitly to protect Sloth Bear habitat. However, habitat generalist Civet doesn't mind the locale, so it curls up in long grass for the day. Sloth Bear is close by, now awake and searching for a meal of termites. While moving through the long grass, Sloth Bear smells something unfamiliar. It's a strong odor, almost musky. It's sleepy African Civet, who had just curled up for the daytime! Civet jumps up to see who blundered through. Sloth Bear growls at this stranger and potential foe, unwilling to move. Our 140kg Sloth Bear is much larger than the Civet (15kg), and can be extremely aggressive. Sloth bears will even attack people! In response, Civet freezes and deploys its best defense: its 4" mohawk! This trick makes it look half-a-stoat (12.5cm, ~5 inches) taller, but that's not nearly enough to impress Sloth Bear. Sloth Bear takes a swipe at Civet with its enormous fore-paw and claws! Civet is running out of defensive tactics and tries to dive for cover in the tall grass, but Sloth Bear is not slow footed! It still has massive canines that have taken down tigers! This time, Civet is too slow, as Sloth Bear's canines sink into the back of Civet's neck. Sloth Bear slays African Civet!

Victor: Sloth Bear

The grasslands of Assam, India, in the Manas Wildlife Sanctuary are one of the most threatened habitat types in the world and where the last remaining populations of Pygmy Hogs are found, and where our battle occurs tonight. Although in a grassland, Tree Hyrax would rather be up a tree! (deja vu). Also, unlike their relatives the rock hyrax, Tree Hyrax prefers to be alone, so at least it isn't too sad to be social distancing at the moment. Suddenly, both Pygmy Hog and Tree Hyrax hear grass rustling and breaking. Elephants! The captive breeding program of the Pygmy Hog Conservation Programme needs more Hogs for breeding. PHCP uses elephant drives to capture Pygmy Hogs "where lines of elephants are used to flush out wild hogs into a net where they are captured". The rustling grass and elephants alarms the Pygmy Hog. When disturbed, Pygmy Hogs can move like lightning! Squealing Hogs run through the grass with such incredible rapidity that the eye is unable to follow them, and our Pygmy Hog comes into contact with an elephant. Pygmy Hog slashes elephant's forefoot with his tusks, for the little creatures have tusks as sharp as razors, and gash the elephants' feet with them as they rush past. Elephant trumpets out in pain, raises up on his hind legs, and comes down hard on poor little Tree Hyrax that was trying to hide from all the commotion! Pygmy Hog evades the capture net and human capture, surviving to the Elite Trait! Pygmy Hog defeats Tree Hyrax!

Victor: Pygmy Hog

Our battle takes place at Addo Elephant National Park, just an hour jaunt north of Port Elizabeth - the 6th largest city in South Africa. Addo is an accessible park, and with increased visitation, many wildlife species are vulnerable to vehicle collisions. Our Brown Hyena combatant is scavenging a roadkilled antelope, as the unlucky victim of high speeds and an inattentive driver watching for wildlife in the distance. The Tayra, unfamiliar in this coastal scrub habitat, is hungry. Smelling a potential meal, it slinks through the short, grassy vegetation toward the tasty aroma. The tayra reaches an open space, with an odd texture at its feet - it's black and hot to the touch. The ground is burning its feet as it creeps, but curiosity and hunger keep moving it closer to the smell. The hyena notices the tayra creeping across the road, looking up at the exact moment when SPLAT - the Tayra is crushed by a motorist! Brown Hyena defeats Tayra!

Victor: Brown Hyena

For this battle we are back in Chile, where the pudu has home habitat advantage. Last battle, the pudu was intent on finding a mate, but got a bit distracted by a hedgehog. Free from such frivolities, he is once again on the sniff for a lady. Being highly adaptable, the raccoon dog is happy in Chiloé National Park, whose vegetation, though unfamiliar, doesn’t feel too strange and the temperature is pleasant. He heeds the ever present call of his belly, and he heads toward a clearing, sniffing as he goes. In the clearing, the male pudu has finally found what he has been searching for. A female pudu stands, munching on a gunera leaf with her 2 month old spotted fawn nearby. The male pudu advances, his nostrils flaring as he picks up the enticing scents. Let us cast our attention to the fawn who has wandered off chasing the fluttering of a butterfly. Let us also cast our attention to the raccoon dog who is still hungry, intent on finding a meal. He draws nearer to the clearing with the pudu. In the clearing, the male and female pudu are focused on each other, which means they are not focused on approaching danger. From downwind the predator approaches the clearing, intent on the plump rump of the healthy sized snack he sees in front of him. Suddenly he freezes, paw in the air, eyes on the pair of pudus, but the pair doesn’t look up. He unfreezes and creeps closer. Closer. Closer. Finally with a gigantic bound out of the shadows, Kodkod launches himself at the Pudu fawn! That's right folks, the kodkod is also a resident of Chiloé National Park! The pudu fawn leaps away, the kodkod's paws hitting the ground instead of firm flesh. The male and female pudu bound away from each other, barking in fear. The raccoon dog looks up at the commotion, pulling the last bit of the earthworm he is slurping up out of the ground. Slowly chewing, the raccoon dog watches as the kodkod, having missed his mark, slinks off into bushes. The female pudu chases after her terrified offspring, and the male pudu crashed through the undergrowth, galloping in the other direction. All that is left in the now silent clearing is the raccoon dog, licking the last of the worm from his lips. His hunger is slightly diminished but not abated. He bows his head and starts snuffling in the leaf litter again. An unaware victor. Raccoon Dog defeats Pudu!

Victor: Pudu

Tonight's battle takes place near Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in the Northern Territory, Australia. The warm Fall weather of March in Australia's Central Desert is all wrong to the swan. The glaring bright sun, all the red sand, and the absence of any evident waterways has the swan irritable and distressed. Camel shuffles into the scene and with mobile, nimble lips forages among the desert plants. Startled by this large stranger, the Trumpeter Swan adopts a head up alert posture. The camel appears bemused - it looks at the swan and says, "What an unusual looking bustard!" Expecting the bustard to slowly walk away as they do when disturbed, the camel resumes foraging. Getting an insufficient reaction, Trumpeter Swan spreads its wings, bobs it head, and hisses. Camel pauses, but knows that its dominant to even weird bustards, Camel crowds toward the increasingly angry Swan to continue browsing. Adept at repelling moose, the aggressive Trumpeter Swan dramatically flaps wings and charges toward the large artiodactyl, trumpeting it's loud, signature honk! Startled by such assertive aggression, Camel flees into the bush. Trumpeter Swan startles Camel!

Victor: Trumpeter Swan

Despite the relative ease with which the gopher tortoise has advanced, they have decided to take a vacay to their beachside second burrow near St. Augustine, Florida. A spacious abode in the dunes, the tortoise's burrow is only 20ft from where the cuttlefish--who has made a mad dash from Tasmania to Florida--is currently floating, camouflaged, in the shallows. The tortoise wakes up as things warm up, and they decide to come out of their burrow for a little bit of brunch. They make their way towards some low veg, away from the water, when suddenly, a wild spring breaker appears! The spring breaker, somewhat the worse for wear due to sleeping on the beach over night, spies the tortoise shell. A sea turtle? Makes sense that they'd be in Florida, but wouldn't they be in, you know, the water? Looking to do a good deed, Spring Breaker picks up the tortoise, walks on down into the shallows, and plops the tortoise right into the water. Water envelops the tortoise, flooding into its shell. Yes, they have survived a busy road. Yes, they've survived a Florida panther attack. But, despite looking like turtles, tortoises cannot swim! The tortoise blindly strikes out with its legs, attempting to walk out of the water. The sand treacherously slides out from underneath its feet, loose and pulled by the surf. Despite trying its hardest, Gopher Tortoise cannot get out of the water! Meanwhile, in the shallows, cuttlefish slowly swims. A very very long time ago (February/early March), the cuttlefish had been part of a spawning sesh, releasing 550 eggs in the English channel. Contrary to popular belief, spawning can be exhausting. While this drama is going on, a local Florida Man, taking an isolated jog as part of an exercise plan while sheltering in place, wades in the shallows. He lifts the Gopher Tortoise out of the water and carefully carries the tortoise back to the edge of the dune, watching desperately to see if Gopher Tortoise is still alive and breathing. Meanwhile, in the lapping waves, cuttlefish decays and dies! After all, cuttlefish are semelparous! Near the dune, Gopher Tortoise gasps! Gopher Tortoise outlasts Cuttlefish!

Victor: Gopher Tortoise

For the sake of biological realism tonight's battle is taking place in the languid freshwater regions of Kakadu National Park on traditional Bininji land, in the Northern Territory of Australia. The speartooth shark has arrived at this battle by vanquishing a small thing (amoeba) and a bird (booby) while the sawfish got here by beating a different small thing (acorn barnacle) and a different bird (crane 😢). These beautiful waters are actually home to both the speartooth shark and the sawfish! The speartooth is traveling higher up in the river to areas with more freshwater, so tonight we are going to explore the upper reaches of the South Alligator river. The Speartooth Shark is pregnant and looking for a place to pup. As the tide is coming in, she is moving farther up the river. The shark senses prey. It circles around - a rapid acceleration from a flick of its large caudal fin - and it lunges in, mouth open, eyes rolled back. The Sawfish feels a hit. As the sharks jaws latch down on the sawfishes' second dorsal fin, the shark rolls, gouging out a piece of fin. Rolling around to retaliate, the sawfish uses its long rostrum, festooned with finger long teeth and strikes back at the shark, ripping across the sharks face and gills. Not expecting this retaliation and close to giving birth, the speartooth shark doesn't want to risk any further injury. Heavy with child she swims off, bloodied. Largetooth Sawfish defeats Speartooth Shark!

Victor: Largetooth Sawfish

Tonight's battle takes place at Bai Hokou in Dzanga-Ndoki National Park, Central African Republic. It's midafternoon and there's a gaggle of young gorillas hanging out in a fig tree at the edge of a bai, being watched by a group of tourists. Playfully chasing and wrestling, they fall on top of our huge silverback, then scramble back up the tree. Aside from occasionally picking them up for a cuddle or dust off, the silverback doesn't mind being a launching pad for his pint sized companions. Cobra slithers onto the scene, not realizing snek's lost the home habitat advantage until it perceives the silverback's scent. It's an unusual musky smell and a far cry of the rodents Cobra would like to prey on right now. Even though Cobra's dark scales blend into the forest floor, the baby gorillas spot Cobra from the fig tree. As most humans might do when confronted with a giant snake, the baby gorillas start screaming and clambering up to higher branches. A shower of fig leaves rains down onto the Silverback Gorilla and the Cobra. Seeking a quieter place to hunt, Cobra begins to slither away into the forest. Agitated, our Gorilla decides that the best defense [of all your gorilla babies] is a good offense. He screams at Cobra and starts bashing with his massive hands. Caught off guard by this large, unfamiliar animal, the cobra doesn't have time to rear up into its signature threat display. Whack! Gorilla crushed Cobra!

Victor: Gorilla

Current Scores:
Hashhog: 52
luckycordel: 49
Rhy: 45
jacob5089: 38
607: 32

Shoutout to Hashhog for taking the lead with an excellent Sweet Sixteen performance! Will he stay in the lead for the remainder of the tournament? Tune in next time to find out!

Aaaaaaand we're back!
Results are synthesized from here.

Our battle takes place in Ratargul Swamp Forest in Bangladesh, one of the few freshwater swamp forests in the world and called the "Amazon" of Bangladesh. During the rainy season, the water level is 4m, but in March it is still the dry season. When we last saw our hog, he was running away from an elephant. Racoon dog, meanwhile, is fresh off his victory against the Pudu. The raccoon dog, suddenly plopped down into this new strange habitat, puts his nose in the air. He smells something familiar: water. A river is nearby. The hog, snuffling along a winding game trail, runs into the unexpected: a small Indian civet! The hog turns and runs back down the path. Unknown to the the hog, the civet is already dead. It had been caught by a snare the night before. The raccoon dog, on the same winding game trail, follows the scent of water; at the same time the hog, having run far enough to feel safe, takes a moment to look around. It smells humans, but the scent is faint. After a pause, it continues foraging. As the raccoon dog continues trotting down the game trail, the hog snuffles his way closer to its opponent. The raccoon dog slows in his trotting. The area faintly smells of humans. Humans and death. Maybe (the raccoon dog thinks) this trip to the river is not quite a good idea... Suddenly, a squeal pierces the air! The raccoon dog freezes, sheltering in place under the nearest understory cover. Yes, this trip was definitely a bad idea. Meanwhile, not 20 feet away, the pygmy hog struggles against the fine steel snare set for civets that tightens around his neck. Unfortunately, no matter how he struggles, he cannot break free. He slowly suffocates, having become bycatch. Raccoon Dog outlasts Pygmy Hog!

Victor: Raccoon Dog

Our battle tonight takes place in a coniferous forest! A novel(?) environment for our last two AnthropoSCENE cmbatants? That's the last thing they need! Actually, both Trumpeter Swan and Gopher Tortoise have experience living in and among conifer forests, especially in temperate North America, but tonight's coniferous forest is subtropical in the Cumbres del Ajusco National Park near Mexico City. Tonight, Trumpeter Swan was trying to migrate to its nesting grounds in the Rocky Mountains. Must have gotten lost! While not its usual habitat, Trumpeter Swans have been seen in Mexico, mostly as rare winter visitors. With so much farther to fly, the Trumpeter Swan starts searching for food. At spring stopover sites, Trumpeter Swans spend ~50% of their time foraging to fuel up for migration and breeding. Gopher Tortoise feels at home in pine forest, but it's cooler than the southeastern US. Gopher Tortoises spend ~80% of their time in their burrows, especially in cold weather. Our Gopher Tortoise starts digging a burrow to get out of the cold. As our Trumpeter Swan is head-down foraging, it gets a face-full of dirt from the digging Gopher Tortoise! Trumpeter Swan honks in alarm and malcontent, and charges at Gopher Tortoise! Our 12 pound Gopher Tortoise does not back down from the raging 25 lbs of Trumpeter Swan. The Swan bites at the Tortoise, but can't produce enough bite-force to harm the Tortoise. Trumpeter Swan is too tired for this! With substantial effort due to depleted energetic resources and difficulty taking flight from land, the Trumpeter Swan hefts its massive body up into the air away from the Gopher Tortoise. Flying towards Mexico City, the air is congested and thick with pollutants. Trumpeter Swan cannot see and flies directly into some electrical wires! Sparks fly as the broken wire arcs through the air. An explosion of feathers and the Trumpeter Swan falls to the ground, dead. Unaware of the destruction, Gopher Tortoise returns to digging. Gopher Tortoise defeats Trumpeter Swan!

Victor: Gopher Tortoise

Tonight's battle takes place among the Acacia trees and Hyparrhenia grasses in the Metemma Woreda of the Amhara Region of Ethiopia along the porous frontier borderlands with Sudan. Here in these lowlands in Northwestern Ethiopia, traditional pastoralism and agropastoralism dominate the semi-arid landscape, practiced by multiple cultural groups manage communal ranges where cattle, camels, sheep, goats, and horses graze. As the sun is setting, Sloth Bear and Brown Hyena assess movement on the grassland from separate, distant vantage points. Some villagers are herding their livestock, while others are carrying water, or returning home from garden plots. Brown Hyena smells carcass on the wind, drifting from where a goat was slaughtered and butchered a couple days ago. Hyena begins slowly loping toward the outskirts of the community. Sloth Bear is more interested in the garden plots, and most sloth bear-human conflict in villages occurs over crop-raiding From the periphery of the village, a young man casually on the lookout for raiders slowly, silently slides his rifle into shoulder position. Snap! Brown Hyena snaps his jaws around some sheep spine and turns to slink back out to the grassland, but catches numerous scents from the village: human, dog, poultry, cattle, and something else... something unfamiliar. Sloth Bear reaches the garden plot but discovers the planting season began only a a few weeks ago. Giving a "huff" vocalization for no crop to raid, Sloth Bear turns towards the grassland, nearly colliding with Brown Hyena! However, in the words of the very official March Mammal Madness twitter feed, "Sloth Bear don't care bc Brown Hyena is so similar to the totes non-threatening striped hyena that is sympatric with sloth bear in Asia." Pop! Pop! Sloth Bear collapses, instantly killed by a precision shot from the Villager's rifle as the Brown Hyena darts toward darkness. Brown Hyena outlasts Sloth Bear!

Victor: Brown Hyena

Tonight, Gorilla and Sawfish find themselves in tropical pine forest habitat on the western slopes of the Barisan Mountain Range in Southern Sumatra. The waters around Sumatra are within the historic range of Sawfish, but Gorilla is far from his tropical African home. Nonetheless, the forest environment is not completely unfamiliar to Gorilla, and he sees what looks like some promisingly edible vegetation not too far distant, right on the other side of a stream. That's right, our Sawfish begins tonight's battle transported to a freshwater stream! Unlike the unfortunate Seahorse, however, sawfish can tolerate a range of salinities (the term is euryhaline)! Sawfish is not bothered by the warm, fresh water in which he finds himself. Sawfish takes a moment to rest from his recent battle in the shallower water. Gorilla looks around and calls for his troop members. When they do not appear, he "turns up" the chemo-signals that silverbacks emit as a form of communication. A concerned gorilla is a stinky boi! But he is also a *hungry* boi -- males can eat 50+ lbs of food in a day -- so he sets off in the direction of the vegetation he saw across the water, and tests the depth of the stream using a stick. The end of the stick jabs the Sawfish, unseen under the water, right where the shark gouged out a piece of dorsal fin in Round 3! Sawfish thrashes in pain! The tooth-studded rostrum it uses to dismember prey whips through the water, but the low flow rate of the water has left Sawfish stranded in a sandy channel, and Sawfish's pointy end is pointing away from Gorilla. Sawfish finds itself unable to maneuver to face its adversary. Gorilla, meanwhile, responds to the sudden movement in the water with a "spectacular splash display," striking the water with his palms to generate a large spray plume. Sawfish is frantically flailing, trying to get off the sand bar. The splash provided by Gorilla actually helps Sawfish dislodge itself! The injured sawfish makes its getaway downstream to a safer waters. Gorilla routs sawfish!

Victor: Gorilla

Current Scores:
Hashhog: 57
luckycordel: 54
Rhy: 45
jacob5089: 38
607: 37

We're getting down to the final rounds of the tournament, which means that there aren't going to be as many fights each round. Hope you're not too heartbroken about having less reading to do.

What's this? Two rounds in one night? Madness!
Results are synthesized from here.

Tonight's battle takes place in Sri Lanka's Wathurana swamp forest. Wathurana is sweltering, with temps in the 90s. Very much not what the raccoon dog is used to in March. His floofy fur, so useful in keeping him warm in temperate climates and much prized for the fur trade, means he is rapidly overheating in this unfamiliar environment. Luckily, the forest is beginning to flood. At its deepest the water is 6ft, but there are enough small hills to keep the raccoon dog from drowning. The raccoon dog flops belly down in some water to help heat escape through his ventral surfaces and legs. The brown hyena has plenty of experience with the seasonally flooded Okavango delta in Botswana, which means means they're unfazed. Splashing through the wet, they follow their nose to a rotting water buffalo carcass. Last night, a leopard had taken down a water buffalo that had sickened after drinking waste water discharged from nearby rubber factories. The cat had attempted to hide its kill for the day, but nothing can escape the nose of the hyena. The hyena takes a large bite of the meat, ignoring the whining of large Diamesus carrion beetles that are startled by the sudden interruption. After a few minutes, both hyena and carrion beetles settle into their work. Close by, the raccoon dog's ears prick up. They'd smelled the carcass, but raccoon dogs tend to prefer live food over dead. The high-pitched whine of the carrion beetles intrigues it; whatever made that noise is definitely alive. The raccoon dog's temperature is somewhat lower post-belly flop, so they haul themselves out of the water, long fur dripping, all floofy volume gone. They pick their way towards the sound of the carrion beetles, towards the hyena and its scavenged carcass. Chewing on stringy sinew, the hyena notices the dark shape trotting towards it. A squatty, floofy-ish jackal? An annoyingly yippy jackal that will try to steal bits off kills that they had laboriously stolen themselves? The hyena's usually more active at night to try to cut down on possible interactions w/ smaller carnivores like jackals. Jackals, of course, ruin this by being active all the time. But unless this jackal-like creature intends to threaten Brown Hyena's meal or take cheeky bites at Hyena backside, the Brown Hyena isn't going to waste energy chasing this canid. Meanwhile, the soggy Raccoon Doggy has a rumbly in his tumbly and spots the large carrion beetles busily crawling all over the place. They trot in a wide circle to angle toward the carcass from the far side of the Brown Hyena. Slinking close to the carcass, Raccoon Dog begins snarfing up carrion beetles without getting too close to the hyena. The Brown Hyena has shifty eyes between the strange jackal and the large section of buffalo muscle. Raccoon Dog just wants the carrion beetles and thinks Brown Hyena seems tolerant, but most of the juicy insects are right on the ragged edges of flesh, where the Brown Hyena is focusing. The Brown Hyena stills. The crest of hair along their back rises slowly. The Raccoon Dog, completely focused on the crawling and flying beetles, is edging close... closer... Too close! With a snarl-growl, Brown Hyena plants his forefeet, lowers his head, and jump-lunges at Raccoon Dog! Yelp-squealing in obsequious fear, the Raccoon Dog instantly retreats to hunt insects less effectively guarded. Brown Hyena discourages Raccoon Dog!

Victor: Brown Hyena

Our battle takes place in Jornada Biosphere Reserve of the Chihuahuan Desert in Mexico, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve established to study sustainability and restoration of desert grasslands. Gopher Tortoise is digging (yet another) burrow in the desert grassland. As adults, these reptiles use a minimum of 3 burrows during their active season. Meanwhile, as Gorilla did in the Sumatran pine forest, he looks around for his troop members and gives a contact call, also known as a "belch vocalization." Gorilla receives no reply, but does notice the Tortoise digging nearby. He turns to investigate and sees something interesting. Tortoise, busily excavating his new burrow, has disturbed a termite nest! Although they're primarily herbivores, Gorillas LOVE termites. Gorilla knuckle walks over to nom nom nom termites, unceremoniously shoving Tortoise out of the way. The Gorilla settles in next to the termite mound and starts smashing the termite mounds with its hands. Gorilla's shove of the Tortoise created a bit of a trench, and appreciating the head start, Tortoise now burrows away from his new position. Gorilla shoves Gopher Tortoise!

Victor: Gorilla

Current Scores:
luckycordel: 62
Hashhog: 57
Rhy: 45
jacob5089: 38
607: 37

Just as suddenly as he lost it, luckycordel has regained the lead! Which animal and participant will win March Mammal Madness 2020? Tune in tomorrow night to find out!