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
FUN FACT: Maternal behavior is pretty cool in Crocodiles! Upon hearing the hatchlings vocalizations, momma crocs dig open the nest so the hatchlings don't have to do the work of digging out! Throughout hatchlings & momma vocalize to each other #2018MMM
When we last saw the Green Anaconda, with a wounded tail, she was swallowing a ~150 lb Komodo Dragon #2018MMM
THINGS YOU CAN'T UNLEARN! When Green Anaconda consume large prey items, the carcasses start to rot inside the snake- decomposing from the inside while the stomach acid digests from the outside! #2018MMM
Tonight's randomized environment is the TINAJA. Tinaja translates to "little jar" in Spanish and are depressions in the bedrock that seasonally fill with water. They represent most surface water in the National Parks of the Southwest US #2018MMM nps.gov/articles/monit…
And this tinaja is in Bear Ears National Monument in Utah. Initially 1.35 million acres was designated in 2016 under the US Antiquities Act as one of the densest & most significant cultural landscapes in the United States. #2018MMM obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-offi…
The distinct geological formation is known by the same name in many languages bc it looks like BEARS EARS! Hoon'Naqvut (Hopi), Shash Jáa (Navajo), Kwiyagatu Nukavachi (Ute), Ansh An Lashokdiwe (Zuni), & Bear Ears (English). #2018MMM
Bear Ears, both historically & today of cultural importance to the Navajo Nation, Hopi, Pueblo of Zuni, Ute Indian, & Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. Bears Ears region includes burial grounds & cultural sites, and still used as a location for ceremonies & sacred sites. #2018MMM
These five tribes & supporters are working to protect this monument from an 85% reduction that will rip open the landscape to mining & drilling. Support @savebearsears here bearsearscoalition.org & use this template to write/call your State Reps: grandcanyontrust.nonprofitsoapbox.com/defendbearsears #2018MMM
The Green Anaconda is lying half in the tinaja... partially curled, but is not moving (adapted from Rivas 2000) #2018MMM
(photo not to scale, that's an anaconda w/ a capybara)
(photo not to scale, that's an anaconda w/ a capybara)
THE GREEN ANACONDA IS DEAD!
She was alive earlier today...
but not moving.
Was it the blood loss?
(But it was her distal tail & not that much blood!)
Was it a microbial infection?
(Lethal septicemia should take longer than 24 hours!)
WAS IT THE VENOM!?!
#2018MMM
She was alive earlier today...
but not moving.
Was it the blood loss?
(But it was her distal tail & not that much blood!)
Was it a microbial infection?
(Lethal septicemia should take longer than 24 hours!)
WAS IT THE VENOM!?!
#2018MMM
"Rather than injecting venom directly via a forceful bite, <Komodo Dragons> use a specialized 'grip-and-rip' motion to ooze the toxin into wounds during a sustained, frenzied attack." -Fry #GRIPnRIP #2018MMM news.nationalgeographic.com/news/091/05/ko…
But the huge size of the anaconda & the quick end of the Komodo Dragon didn't allow a venom protein delivery that was enough to quickly "induce hypotensive collapse" aka STOP THE HEART (Fry et al. 2009) #2018MMM pnas.org/content/106/22…
Not to mention... reptiles are NOTORIOUSLY resistant to venom #PlotTwistsAgain #2018MMM link.springer.com/chapter/10.100…
THIS GREEN ANACONDA DIED OF LYMPHATIC CANCER WITH NO EVIDENT DETERIORATION FROM THE CANCER'S PROGRESSION! (RIVAS 2000) #2018MMM
Not all animals can get cancer, but a lot do- research on cancer across animals yields insights to improve medicine @evmedasu #EvolutionaryMedicine newsweek.com/2015/10/16/res…
Orinoco Crocodile walks across the sandstone, attracted to the delicious aromas of sun-warmed, anaconda-wrapped, eagle owl-stuffed Komodo Dragon #2018MMM
BUT although the Anaconda is dead, standing upon his green scales is THE TARDIGRADE! #2018MMM
"Through fire... and water... From the lowest dungeon to the highest peak, I fought him, the GREEN ANACONDA of AMAZON. Until at last, I threw down my enemy & smote his ruin upon the mountainside." #2018MMM
"Darkness took me. And I strayed out of thought and time. Stars wheeled overhead and everyday was as long as a life-age of the earth." (pic by John Fowler) #2018MMM
"But it was not the end.
I felt life in me again.
I have been sent back,
until my task is done."
#2018MMM
I felt life in me again.
I have been sent back,
until my task is done."
#2018MMM
"Tardigrade? Yes... that's what they used to call me. TardiGRAYde. That was my name." #2018MMM
WHICH IS, OF COURSE, NONSENSE!
Tardigrades can't talk
Crocodiles wouldn't understand if they did.
THERE ARE NO WIZARD TARDIGRADES
NO POINTS FOR #AltAdvance
#2018MMM
Tardigrades can't talk
Crocodiles wouldn't understand if they did.
THERE ARE NO WIZARD TARDIGRADES
NO POINTS FOR #AltAdvance
#2018MMM
Crocodile digs into the 650lbs of combined anaconda-wrapped, eagle owl-stuffed Komodo Dragon bounty #2018MMM
CROCODILE DIGESTS ANACONDA!!!!! #2018MMM
Small, meaty morsels go airborne from the Crocodile's violent tearing of anaconda flesh, and something flecks onto the Crocodile's face... it's the TARDIGRADE!!! #AltAdvance #2018MMM
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