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
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
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: #2 seed Cape Town Chacma Baboon (Papio ursinus) vs #7 seed Porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) #2018MMM
It's round 1 all over again: Primate vs Spiky thing! #2018MMM Unlike R1, tonight's battle was a collaboration between @je_light and I!
Baboons are in the same primate group as rhesus macaques (Cercopithecidae). These Old World monkeys last shared a common ancestor with New World porcupines (Erethizontidae) ~90 mya (timetree.org) #2018MMM
NEXT UP: 2nd-seed Green Anaconda (Eunectes murinus) vs. 15th seed Tardigrade (Milnesium tardigradum) #2018MMM
The tardigrade was discovered by German Pastor J.A.E. Goeze in 1773. He dubbed it a "water bear" based on the way it moves-like of a bear lumbering around. Water bear isn't the only name for the tardigrade, however. It is also known as the "moss piglet". #2018MMM
A moss piglet known by any other name would be just as indestructible. Tardigrades are "extremophiles" that withstand environments up to and including the vacuum of space. The post-apocalyptic world is one of cockroaches and tardigrades. #2018MMM