Anali Perry, Scholarly Communication Librarian, is the primary library contact for March Mammal Madness, with expert subject assistance from René Tanner, Janice Hermer, and Mimmo Bonanni. Feel free to contact us with suggestions, corrections, or questions!
Suggested Citation: "Perry, A., Bonanni, M., Hermer, J., Tanner, R., & Hinde, K. "March Mammal Madness Library Guide." https://libguides.asu.edu/marchmammalmadness.
Charon Henning leads the art team for March Mammal Madness! You can support Charon and the other artists and purchase official MMM prints and merchandise at Society6. Or buy them a tea at Ko-Fi.
Welcome to March Mammal Madness! This library guide is your official location for MMM tournament info and resources to help you fill out your bracket. March Mammal Madness originated at Mammals Suck...Milk, Dr. Katie Hinde's blog, where she founded MMM in 2013. Each year, the tournament has become more popular, elaborate, educational, and fun.
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.
The organizers take information about each combatant's weaponry, armor, fight style, temperament/motivation, and any special skills/consideration and estimate a probability of the outcome and then use a random number generator to determine the outcome. This is why there are upsets in the tournament.
Another thing that can happen is if a species has to battle in an ecology that is really bad for it - for example, if a cold adapted species is battling in a tropical forest, it can dangerously overheat- changing the outcome probabilities. Sometimes an animal gets injured or snaps a canine in a previous round that carries over into the next round- just like an injury of a star player totally changes a basketball team's outcome. Also hiding or running away counts as a forfeit.
In the early rounds the battle location is in the preferred habitat of the better-ranked combatant in the battle, and ecology can play a huge role in what happens. Once to the Elite Trait, the battle location is random among 4 ecologies for the remaining battles. The location is announced right before the battle.
Participants fill out their brackets with their choices for the winners for each bout. Scoring occurs at the end of the tournament, points allocated as follows:
We can only suggest the following for maximal fun and learning. Print out the bracket, predict who will win in each of the match-ups in round one, then round two, and so on and so forth, all the way out to your prediction who wins the championship! Get your friends, colleagues, and/or family to play. Post brackets on wall prominently. Trash talk their selections that depart from yours. Follow along in real time to battle play by plays on Twitter by following hashtag #2021MMM or @2021MMMletsgo on scheduled bout nights. If twitter isn't your thing, check the facebook page, the blog, or this library guide for updates a couple hours AFTER the bouts conclude for the night (or the next morning)
These correspond to the relative rankings among the species. 1 is the highest/best ranked team in the division and 16 is the lowest/worst - the number assigned is referred to as "seeding" but it's functionally interchangeable with ranking (seeded/ranked are therefore also interchangeable).
The single elimination bracket battle favors the strongest teams until you get out to the semi-finals: seed 1 plays (crushes) seed 16, seed 2 plays seed 15, etc. As soon as a species loses, it's out of the tournament (unless it Alt-Advances)!
Typically, battles are one on one. However, in 2017 there was a team: the Neanderthal Hunting Party, which was a small group of hunters working together with Neanderthal technology. In general, assume that the combatants represent the most prime-aged, healthy and strong specimen of that species. Also, just as in nature, there can occasionally be scientifically-grounded outside interference.
The battles are NOT always “nature, red in tooth and claw.” Sometimes the winner "wins" by displacing the other at a feeding location, sometimes a powerful animal doesn't attack because it is not motivated to- a few years ago in the “Who in the What Now?” Division we had a dhole lose to a binturong because the night before dhole had gorged on babirusa and the gut passage time of wild canids is 24-48 hours. This meant that the dhole was still full from the night before and unwilling to take the risks of tangling with the binturong. Even a small claw cut or bite wound can get infected and lots of times an animal will back down rather than take a risk for little potential benefit.
This is when a low ranked team beats a high ranked team. 9 beating 8 isn't a super impressive upset. In the actual NCAA tournament, upsets happen when a 12 will beat a 5 or an 11 will beat a 6, once every few years a 15 will beat a 2 in the first round. For example,
“Coming off its 11th national championship the season before, UCLA was ready to make another run through the 1996 NCAA tournament as a No. 4 seed. But in his final year as coach, Pete Carril and his 13 seeded Princeton offense got the best of the Bruins, stunning Jim Harrick’s squad in the first round with a last-second basket on a backdoor cut.”
A "cinderella" team is a low-ranked team that progresses multiple rounds of the tournament systematically beating higher ranked teams.
No! Real fans don’t abandon their favorite animals just because they are pathetic at this kind of battle (although hopefully well-suited to their particular ecological niche). People will clown you if your bracket is TOO conservative by always picking the better-ranked team.
Also the rankings are not infallible and there are upsets in nature too. Upsets are what make March Mammal Madness exciting. Like in 2015 when #3 seed Quokka exited stage left for those sweet burger rings, allowing #14 seed Numbat to advance!!! OMG! WHO SAW THAT COMING!?!?!?!
Did you know that longtime MMM co-organizers Chris Anderson and Josh Drew aren't even mammalogists? Chris is an entomologist and Josh is a marine biologist who primarily studies fish! AND well, apparently people see "cats" everywhere they look. Most importantly, all animals are awesome, so March Mammal Madness puts an asterisk behind 'Mammal.'
Most probably not. If you have a deep affinity for an animal, but your identity means you are culturally appropriating when you use the term, there are many options. We suggest: "inner animal", "anima", "emblem", or "animal quiddity/quidditas." #WordNerds
Editor in Chief | Katie Hinde, Arizona State University |
Deputy Editor | Chris Anderson, Dominican University |
Art Director | Charon Henning, Scientific Illustrator |
Scientist-Narrators |
Chris Anderson, Dominican University Alyson Brokaw, Texas A&M University Tara Chestnut, Mount Rainier National Park, NPS Patrice Connors, Colorado Mesa University Mauna Dasari, Notre Dame University Josh Drew, State University of New York Syracuse Lara Durgavich, Tufts University Yara Haridy, Museum für Naturkunde Anne Hilborn, University of California- Riverside Katie Hinde, Arizona State University Mark Kissel, Appalachian State University Danielle Lee, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Kristi Lewton, University of Southern California Jessica Light, Texas A&M University Asia Murphy, Penn State University Brian Tanis, Oregon State University Jo Varner, Colorado Mesa University Kwasi Wrensford, UC Berkeley |
Artists |
Mary Casillas, Scientific Illustrator Charon Henning, Scientific Illustrator Will Nickley, Graphic Designer Olivia Pellicer, Scientific Illustrator Valeria Pellicer, Scientific Illustrator Cyn Rudzis, Artist |
Genetics |
Eduardo Amorim, University of Lausanne Elinor Karlsson, University of Massachusetts Boston & Broad Institute Anne Stone, Arizona State University Nate Upham, Arizona State University Fernando Villanea, University of Colorado-Boulder Jesse Weber, University of Wisconsin-Madison Melissa Wilson, Arizona State University |
Official Twitter Account |
Connor Fox, Oak Park & River Forest High School Emma Willocks, Brown University |
Sports Summaries |
Margaret Janz, Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden Jason Krell, Arizona State University Kate Lesciotto, Pennsylvania State University Jessica Martin, Arizona State University |
LibGuide | Anali Maughan Perry, Arizona State University |
Spanish Translation | Alejandra Nuñez-de la Mora, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa |
Educator Materials |
Katie Hinde, Arizona State University Stephanie Schuttler, NC Museum of Natural Sciences Jenna Kissel, Education Engagement Coordinator |
Video Recaps | MC Marmot & The Rodent Roundtable |
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