Thread by @je_light

NEXT UP: #3 Crabeater Seal Vs. #6 Jaguarundi!!! #2018MMM

This battle was written by @Drew_Lab. Josh is in the UK right now & he was at Darwin's House today. How cool was that? #2018MMM

The Crabeater Seal skated into R2 after lightly munching on the surprisingly aptly named Edible Dormouse, while the Jaguarundi defeated the Desman #2018MMM

As the Crabeater Seal is a higher seed, tonight's battle will take place on the pack ice of the Southern Ocean #2018MMM

The Crabeater Seals' global population is estimated at 15 million, making it the second most populace large mammal species other than humans antarctica.gov.au/about-antarcti… #2018MMM

Unlike other seals, Crabeaters spend most of their life on pack ice: free floating ice that surrounds the Antarctic continent arkive.org/crabeater-seal… #2018MMM

Side bar, Josh is currently in the UK looking at old ship records to understand the historical ecology of sea ice dependent species like the Crabeater Seal #2018MMM

Tonight's battle takes place on the ice as the Crabeater Seal has retreated from the water to rest and digest #2018MMM

The Jaguarundi, while not a fan of the cold, is at least on solid ground..well ice #2018MMM

Big-cat researcher Michael Tewes (Texas A&M Kingsville @JavelinaNation) has done a good bit of research on Jaguarundis, esp. in relation to conservation onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.10… #ActualLivingScientist #2018MMM

See Tewes' conservation work for @Mammalogists & @TXMammals here: mammalogy.org/whats-new/asm-… & docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/d8e9a7_ae1… #2018MMM

The Jaguarundi smells the Crabeater Seal, redolent of sea breeze, salt air, and... crustacean breath #Krillmonger #2018MMM

The Crabeater Seal perks up. There usually are no predators on the pack ice; this is a place of safety! The Seal is unaccustomed to danger not coming from the sea #2018MMM

The Jaguarundi hunkers down low and adopts its normal stalking motion. However, as the background cover is bright white, despite its best efforts it is fairly obvious. Sort of like the picture below #2018MMM

Crabeater Seal undulates over to investigate, baring its teeth #2018MMM

The Jaguarundi pounces forward hoping to use what little element of surprise it has remaining. Jaguarundi sinks its 9.7mm canines into the Crabeater Seal while clinging with his claws academic.oup.com/mspecies/artic… #2018MMM

However the Seal's blubber is up to 5 cm thick (sciencedirect.com/science/articl…) so the bite does little damage #2018MMM

The Crabeater Seal thrashes to dislodge the little kitteh! #2018MMM

And rolls over. 600+ lbs of pinniped bulk are crushing down on the Jaguarundi! #2018MMM

Jaguarundi's last breath escapes his lungs as he fails to escape Crabeater Seal #2018MMM

CRABEATER SEAL SQUASHES JAGUARUNDI #2018MMM