March Mammal Madness

Navigating the Archives

March Mammal Madness has been making its mark since 2013! MMM's current home is this ASU Library Guide with all the information you'll need to participate as a player, student, or educator. MMM started on Dr. Katie Hinde's blog Mammals Suck... Milk! and has migrated here, so check out her blog to see where it all began! The purpose of this archive page is to provide a history of the tournament and showcase the winners, art, resources and jokes that have made MMM into what it is today! 

You can navigate through the archived tournament information from the Hall of Fame table on this page or the dropdown sidebar under "Archive." 

History of March Mammal Madness

Dr. Katie Hinde started the tournament in 2013

"In honor of the NCAA College Basketball March Madness Championship Tournament, Mammals Suck is featuring *simulated* head-to-head combat competition among mammals. I'll be honest, this is a blatantly swiped concept from Buzzfeed except their competition is about "cuteness". As we in the Comparative Lactation Lab were filling out our Buzzfeed animal brackets we found ourselves asking "what about <enter numerous awesome mammals here>?!?!?" so we ditched theirs and made our own vastly superior version."  (Katie Hinde on the Mammals Suck Blog)

If You're Learning You're Winning

Inspired by (but in no way affiliated with or representing) the NCAA College Basketball March Madness Championship Tournament, March Mammal Madness is an annual tournament of *simulated* combat competition among animals. Scientific literature is cited to substantiate likely outcomes as a probabilistic function of the two species' attributes within the battle environment. Attributes considered in calculating battle outcome include temperament, weaponry, armor, body mass, running speed, fight style, physiology, and motivation.

Through the scientific information embedded in the bout descriptions, participants are educated about inter-species interactions, the importance of ecological context, how natural selection has shaped adaptations, and conservation management of endangered species.

With cited scientific research, links to conservation projects, educator resources, epic trash talk, and all the mammal puns you can take; we are dolphin-itely not lion, everyone is a winner! 

Survival of the Fittest

March Mammal Madness has what it takes to stick around. The tournament has evolved over the past decade and the storytelling element has made it a great way to get people of all ages excited about science communication!