#2017MMM: Adjective and Desert-Adapted Mammals Round 2

2017 March Mammal Madness: Round 2, Adjective and Desert-Adapted Mammals

The first battle of the night pitted the Spectacled Bear and my choice, the Spotted Skunk up against each other. I really thought the fragrant rodent would chase off the much larger bear, but she proved to be a coward. Once she sprayed the big oaf, she scurried away from the battle arena losing the match…guess my luck in Round 2 was going as good as the first round.

The next fight took place in the rainforests of Central America, prime territory of my favorite, the White-Headed Capuchin. He easily beats out the Screaming Hairy Armadillo since he knows the area and how to survive when the local fauna attack.

As far as the Tibetan Sand Fox and the Saiga battle, sometimes it’s better to be an herbivore in a battle of mammals. The Fox simply saw this as a fight of opportunity where he could pick up another meal after stuffing himself in the last round, but the Saiga saw this as a life and death battle to protect his harem…who do you think won? A similar fate was dealt to the other Fox in this bracket, the South American Gray Fox who had a nice lunch in the first round and was too lazy to keep up the fight against the Guanaco. At this rate, I think a Cow might pull of the Cinderella story of the 2017MMM.

So far, there haven’t been any surprises in Round 2. The 3 and 2 seeds from the Desert Adapted bracket and the 1 and 5 seed from the Adjective Mammals all advance to the Sweet 16, each one was the higher seed in their contests.

This continues with the Clouded leopard battle against the Banded Linsang. With both carnivores seeking the same prey, the Leopard spots the Linsang and jumps on it rather than the squirrel they were both hunting…too bad for the Linsang…1 seed beats 10. The final match in the Adjective division featured the Maned Wolf and Giant Pouched Rat and was over before it began…apparently the Rat had travel issues and couldn’t make it to the event.

The Aarwolf/Ringtail contest might be considered the most controversial of the round, with interference from the audience severely altering the results, as the Ringtail was eaten by a Jackal who happened to be walking by. The Aardwolf didn’t mind though as he advanced. The Honey Badger didn’t mind anything either as she proved that reptiles have no place in March Mammal Madness. She easily dominated the Gila Monster and got a nice meal out of it too.

So we now have eight of the Sweet 16 and the lowest seeded animal is the #5 Capuchin…so far it’s looking like the bracket makers knew what they were doing.

You can check out the blow-by-blow descriptions of the battles at Storify and of course, you can follow all the battles on Twitter with the hashtag #2017MMM or @2017MMMLetsgo and be sure to check out the official site at Mammals suck…Milk.