NEXT UP: 5th seeded Moscow Dog vs. 12th seeded Sewer Rat!! #2018MMM
Our top seed in this battle is the Moscow Dog (Canis familiaris), domesticated strays that have roamed the Russian city's streets for decades en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_do… (photo from Sputnik news, credit Mikhail Fomichev) #2018MMM 
News stories have highlighted this canine's ability to live side-by-side Moscovites coercing handouts & some learning to ride the subway (the Conservation, theconversation.com/how-did-moscow…; the New Yorker, newyorker.com/culture/cultur…; the Financial Times, ft.com/content/628a85…) #2018MMM
#actualliving scientist Andrei Poyarkov has noted that the behavior of these dogs is somewhere between wolves & domesticated dogs, suggesting a potential "re-wilding" of the population canidensymposium-berlin.com/speaker/andrey… #2018MMM
Most of Dr. Poyarkov's has focused on the evolutionary relationships between dogs & wolves (Wang et al. 2013 nature.com/articles/ncomm… & 2016 nature.com/articles/cr201…) #2018MMM
Here's a 2011 ABC News story summarizing the metro-savvy moscow dogs Bookmark it for another time... #2018MMM
... because we still need to meet tonight's underdog, 12th seeded sewer rat (Rattus norvegicus), A.K.A. the brown rat, common rat, street rat, or Norway rat arkive.org/brown-rat/ratt… #2018MMM
Call the rat what you want, but this rodent's picture is in the dictionary next to ubiquitous because it is found in cities world-wide (map from @inaturalist, an AMAZING #cititizenscience project you should sign up for today!) #2018MMM
Ranging in size form 150-500g (0.75 - 2.2 stoats), the urban dictionary says sewer rats are "very ferocious beasts which can chew metal like bubble gum" urbandictionary.com/define.php?ter… #stoatsasmeasurement #2018MMM
(I'll give you a few seconds to sing along here....) #2018MMM
In fact, uptown sewer rat is so adapted to life underground (hold its breath underwater, swim for hours, etc.) that @NatGeo investigated how brown rats CAN (but not always) end up in your toilet #saywhat phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2015/08/14/yes… #2018MMM
Tonight, uptown sewer rat finds itself above ground in the city streets of Moscow, scavenging for some scraps in an open dumpster #NBD #UptownRat #2018MMM
A lone moscow dog is trotting through the alley... #2018MMM
But what behavioral phenotype is the Moscow Dog... guard, scavenger, beggar, OR HUNTER?! theglyptodon.wordpress.com/2012/08/12/a-w… #2018MMM
The rat jumps from the dumpster to the ground, and suddenly dog & rat are face-to-face! #2018MMM
Sewer rat and moscow dog both freeze! #2018MMM
The moscow dog moves forward to sniff this new being #WhatHaveYouBeenEatingEh? #2018MMM
The sewer rat dives for safety under the dumpster, as prey species are want to do in the face of a much larger potential predator moscow dogs are medium-sized, ~50lbs or 100+ stoats) #stoatsasmeasurement #2018MMM (Blanchard et al 1986, psycnet.apa.org/buy/1986-26417…)
Domesticated dogs have shifted their diet more toward starches (Axelsson et al 2013 nature.com/articles/natur…), & the urban bounty of human handouts makes the moscow dog more inquisitive than predatory in this well-fed state! #2018MMM
As the moscow dog sniffs about the dumpster, he hears humans bustling about & trots off to beg for an easy treat #BeggarBehavioralPhenotype #2018MMM
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