Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #2018MMM
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UP NEXT: #1 seed Orinoco Crocodile vs #2 seed Amebelodon! #2018MMM
Tonight's battle also brought to you by @chumblebiome, @drew_lab, @MarkKissel, and @c_n_anderson. #2018MMM
Our fierce competitors tonight have crushed all that have dared stand before them in previous rounds. #2018MMM
UP FIRST TONIGHT: everyone's favorite river horse, the 1-seeded PYGMY HIPPO Hexaprotodon (formally Choeropsis) liberiensis, vs. the scrappy 4-seeded brush wolf, COYOTE Canis latrans! #2018MMM
Many minds came together to bring you tonight's first battle, so a quick hat-tip to @AnneWHilborn, @PKurnath, @TCastanea, & @tinkeringprim8. Seriously, the #teamwork has been amazing #Monstars #2018MMM
To reach the #FinalRoar, Hippo crushed star-nosed mole, intimidated both maned rat & Tasmanian devil, & STOMPED the cheetah out of competition #hangryhippo #2018MMM
And LAST but not LEAST of the #EliteTrait, we have #1 seeded Doedicurus clavicaudatus vs. #2 Amebelodon fricki!!! #2018MMM
Tonight's battle is a 3-way collaboration by me, @PKurnath & @tinkeringprim8, so hold on to your tush! #TeamAwesome #TeamDiscoveryChannel #2018MMM
Doedicurus a.k.a. #TankMammal has taken out the Jugulator, Thalassocnus catans, and Andrewsarchus mongoliensis, while Amebelodon a.k.a. "shovel-tusker" has defeated Deinogalerix koenigswald, Homo floresensis, and Dimetrodon limbatus #winning #taxonomicmouthful #2018MMM
Next Up: #1 seed Orinoco Crocodile vs #2 seed Anaconda! #2018MMM 
To reach tonight, Orinoco Crocodile consumed a praying mantis, a goliath tarantula, and a secretary bird foot. So, ah, he is HUNGRY TO WIN! #2018MMM #AlltheNopes
NEXT UP: #1 seeded PYGMY HIPPO vs. #2 seeded CHEETAH! #2018MMM
(photo credit: #actuallivingscientist @AnneWHilborn, Dr. John Carroll (snr.unl.edu/aboutus/who/pe…), Dr. Hernandez (warnell.uga.edu/people/faculty…) & @conservationorg (pygmyhippo.uga.edu/index.html))
(photo credit: #actuallivingscientist @AnneWHilborn, Dr. John Carroll (snr.unl.edu/aboutus/who/pe…), Dr. Hernandez (warnell.uga.edu/people/faculty…) & @conservationorg (pygmyhippo.uga.edu/index.html))
Tonight's battle was a tag-team collab between @AnneWHilborn (Anne) and @am_anatiala (Asia)! #whapalabmates #2018MMM
ASIA: So, Anne, I wouldn't think that this 130lb/265 stoat-heavy fast cat would make it this far. Cheetahs aren't generally considered great fighters, right? *whispers* Unlike Kylo. #2018MMM #StoatsAsMeasurement
UP FIRST, URBAN JUNGLE: #4 seed Coyote (Canis latrans) vs #7 seed Porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) #2018MMM
In this final Urban Jungle face-off, don't forget there are many references available to learn more about urban animals. Some books: crcpress.com/Urban-Wildlife…, stackpolebooks.com/book/978081170…, springer.com/us/book/978148… #2018MMM
'TIS THE FINALE!! #1 seeded Doedicurus clavicaudatus vs. #4 seeded Andrewsarchus mongoliensis!
(DC: gettyimages.ca/detail/news-ph…; AM: Bogdanov 2006) #2018MMM
(DC: gettyimages.ca/detail/news-ph…; AM: Bogdanov 2006) #2018MMM
Tonight's battle has been brought to you by the mighty collaboration of @PKurnath & I. #teamwork #TeamKylo #2018MMM
Doedicurus, a.k.a. #TankMammal, made it to the #Sweet16 by being large like a boulder and tough like a battering ram. #2018MMM
Next Up (For Real THIS TIME): #2 seed Anaconda (Eunectes murinus) vs. #3 seed Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis) #2018MMM
World's Heaviest Snake vs World's Largest Lizard #2018MMM
Komodo Dragons have "ziphodont" teeth, meaning they are laterally compressed, sharp, & with serrated edges. In 1928, Burden described what they could do (other than give you nightmares) #2018MMM
Dimetrodon weighed an average of ~150kg (683 stoats). Recall, Amebelodon weighed in at ~9,000kg (OMG so many stoats) & was one of the largest North American land mammals to have ever lived. Sensing this was a bad move on his part, Dimetrodon flees towards safer regions #2018MMM
But Amebelodon's stampede is not easy to avoid. Amebelodon kicks the non-dino right in its sail, sending it hurting backwards. Broken & healed fractures from the spinous process of Dimetrodon suggest that their fins were often broken (bioone.org/doi/full/10.31…) #2018MMM
AMEBELODON DEFEATS DIMETRODON!!! #2018MMM
NEXT UP: 3rd seeded Dimetrodon limbatus vs 2nd seeded Amebelodon fricki!!! #2018MMM
Hand-claps for @MarcKissel who wrote this amazing BATTLE OF THE DONS!!! #2018MMM (I'm just the messenger tonight)
Dimetrodon has already defeated Aegyptopithecus zeuxis & devoured Pseudaelurus quadridentatus, while Amebelodon has out-competed Deinogalerix koenigswald & scared off Homo floresiensis #2018MMM
NEXT UP: Second seed Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) vs third seed Crabeater Seal (Lobodon carcinophaga) #2018MMM
Last time the cheetah vanquished the aye aye leaving naught but a finger behind and the crabeater seal made a furry pancake out of jaguarundi. #2018MMM
Will the curse of the aye aye cripple the cheetah this round? How will the seal cope with a much larger less squashy cat? Are you sitting comfortably? Then let’s begin. #2018MMM
NEXT UP: SPOTTED HYENA VS. COYOTE! #2018MMM
This battle was a collaborative effort, with valuable input from @TCastanea and @AnneWHilborn. #2018MMM
Both animals arrive in Round 2 unscathed: Hyena after shredding the tiny Belo Horizonte marmoset, and Coyote having scared off an opossum. #2018MMM
UP NEXT: #3 seed Berlin Boar (Sus scrofa) vs #7 seed Porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) #2018MMM
The top-ranked competitor still has homefield advantage, so this Urban Jungle battle takes place in Berlin, Germany. Berlin Board & Porcupine don't have a lot in common; they last shared a common ancestor ~96 mya (timetree.org) #2018MMM
Did you know what "Porcupine" is Latin for "Quill Pig"? Follow #ActualLivingScientist @porcupinedoc for some more amazing porcupine facts #2018MMM
Next up from the Great Adaptations division, #1 seed Pygmy Hippo vs #4 seed Tasmanian Devil! #2018MMM
This battle brought to you by @c_n_anderson, I'm just sharing the story tonight! #2018MM
The pygmy hippo is herbivorous, feeding on fruits, grasses and ferns - it's large canines are used for aggresive displays, not hunting #2018MMM arkive.org/pygmy-hippopot…
FIRST UP: 1st-seed Orinoco crocodile (Crocodylus intermedius) vs. 5th-seed Secretary Bird (Sagittarius serpentarius)! #2018MMM
Our competitors in this first battle have so far only faced off with much smaller Arthropod foes, so the Sweet 16 Round will be their first tournament tumble with large vertebrate competitors. #2018MMM
The Secretary Bird has used its lengthy gams to crush the carapace of a horseshoe crab and given the mantis shrimp the ol' one-two kick right out of the tournament (and this life). #2018MMM
NEXT UP: 3rd seeded Dimetrodon limbatus vs 7th seeded Pseudaelurus quadridentatus (aka Puff quaddy or Puffy) #2018MMM
In R1 (seems so long ago, right?), Dimetrodon & Puff quaddy both took out extinct primates. Dimetrodon (early synapsid around ~300-260 mya in the Permian Period) shredded an exposed, & much smaller, Aegyptopithecus zeuxis (early catarrhine primate) #2018MMM
NEXT UP: #4 seed Andrewsarchus mongoliensis vs #5 seed Thylacoleo carnifex! #2018MMM
To get here, Andrewsarchus taste-tested Nuralagus rex & the giant short-faced kangaroo blundered against our marsupial lion from down under, Thylacoleo! (AM: Bogdanov 2006; TC: Roman Yevseyev romanyevseyev.deviantart.com) #2018MMM
Now the 135kg Thylacoleo has bought a ticket to Inner Mongolia to face off against the (estimated) 810kg Andrewsarchus. Whether that ticket is one-way or round-trip remains to be seen. #2018MMM
Next up: No. 2 ranked Amebelodon fricki vs. no. 7 ranked Homo floresiensis!!! #2018MMM
In the first round Amebelodon sent Deinogalerix koenigswald flying through the air, while Homo floresiensis outwitted the tiny Palaeoloxodon #2018MMM
Amebelodon is a member of the Gomphotheriidae family, a group of extinct elephant-like mammals. Whether all the species currently placed in the amebelodon genus are descended from a common ancestor (e.g., are monophyletic) or not is a topic of some debate #2018MMM
NEXT UP we have #8 seeded Thalassocnus catans vs. #1 seeded Doedicurus clavicaudatus! #2018MMM
In round 1, Thalassocnus #MarineSloth munched on some sea grasses while Cynognathus #DinoDog got washed away with the #RIP tide #TeamMarineSloth eol.org/pages/4530087/… #2018MMM
And Doedicurus #TankMammal barely noticed the Jugulator hop-on and then hop-off its mighty armor that is characteristic of glyptodons eol.org/pages/4529496/… #EasyWin #ReadyToRumble #2018MMM
NEXT UP: 10th seed common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) vs. 2nd seed green anaconda (Eunectes murinus) #2018MMM
The clever octopus reached Round 2 by suffocating and enveloping cookie cutter shark. #sneakattack #2018MMM
(Speaking of clever, check out this @MerriamWebster video if you want to impress all your friends by knowing the *multiple* correct plurals of 'octopus'!) #2018MMM #etymology
Next Up- THE POTTERVERSE BATTLE: DRAGON VS. OWL #2018MMM
More specifically: #3 Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis) vs. #6 Eurasian Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo) #2018MMM
Komodo Dragon swallowed the snot otter to advance to round 2, while Eurasian Eagle Owl perforated the Beaded Lizard, relative of @gilamonsterasu #2018MMM
Next up is the #5 Secretary Bird against the #13 Mantis Shrimp #2018MMM
The Sec. Bird arrived here through stomping the Horseshoe Crab, while the Mantis Shrimp pulled off an upset over the Alligator Snapping Turtle #2018MMM
As the holder of the higher seed, tonight's battle takes place in Kainji Lake National Park, Nigeria bit.ly/2pGaZl6 (pdf) where the Sec. Bird has been searching for prey #2018MMM
First up in Kat's Away division, Orinoco Crocodile (#1 seed) vs Goliath Tarantula (#9 seed) #2018MMM
This battle was written by the fabulous @c_n_anderson, & it's a doozy. Buckle up folks #2018MMM
The critically endangered Orinoco crocodile defeated the praying mantis in R1 and faces another arthropod tonight. arkive.org/orinoco-crocod… #2018MMM
LAST BATTLE OF THE NIGHT! #3 seed Berlin Boar (Sus scrofa) vs #6 seed Bobcat (Lynx rufus) #2018MMM
Both of these urban competitors had an easy time of things in R1: Berlin Boar scared off an Eastern Grey Squirrel & Bobcat outwaited a Striped Skunk to advance #2018MMM
