a large black and white whale is swimming in the water ALT: a large black and white whale is swimming in the water

RIP 2014 orca and #2022MMM pod of orcas, I didn't see either of those coming.
And yet...there's a trend.
#2026MMM

a black and white drawing of a troll face dancing on a white background . ALT: a black and white drawing of a troll face dancing on a white background .

Back in 2022 they had to find a way for 3 lionesses to beat an orca in the costal kelp shallows. The rng was just trolling that year #2026mmm #2022mmm

Final Roar history:
#2025MMM Two 1 seeds, 2 seed, 8 seed
#2024MMM 1 seed, two 2 seeds, 3 seed
#2023MMM Two 1 seeds, 2 seed, 3 seed
#2022MMM Three 1 seeds and a 2 seed
#2021MMM Three 1 seeds and a 3 seed
#2020MMM 1 seed, two 3 seeds, 7 seed
#2019MMM Three 1 seeds, and a 3 seed

Fun bat fact of the day: Through March Mammal Madness, it was established that all Mexican Free-tailed Bats are named Carl #2022MMM #TeamCarl

I will not be taking questions at this time

a herd of lions running in a field with the word squad written in white letters ALT: a herd of lions running in a field with the word squad written in white letters

Probably best to focus on when the Lionesses defeated the ORCA. #2025MMM #2022MMM

a close up of a beaver eating a piece of wood ALT: a close up of a beaver eating a piece of wood

If only the Lodge of Beavers from #2022MMM were competing in #2025MMM. 🦫 #TeamRodent

Final Roar history:
#2024MMM 1 seed, two 2 seeds, 3 seed
#2023MMM Two 1 seeds, 2 seed, 3 seed
#2022MMM Three 1 seeds and a 2 seed
#2021MMM Three 1 seeds and a 3 seed
#2020MMM 1 seed, two 3 seeds, 7 seed
#2019MMM Three 1 seeds, and a 3 seed

GRIZZLY BEAR SNACKS ON TRAIN MANGLED JAGUAR!!! #2022MMM

An hour later, Grizz comes back to scavenge the jaguar's body. He's eaten train killed elk before (Dorsey 2011) and even a black bear. This very opportunistic omnivore chomps down happily on the easy meal, keeping an ear out for the next train #2022MMM...

The train roars past, leaving silence and one of the first megafauna train deaths of 2022 behind #2022MMM

But the very front of the engine smashes into the jaguar's hind legs, throwing the cat 20 feet and breaking his spine. #2022MMM

The train is not a predator per se, but it is implacable and untiring at 60 km/hour (Dorsey 2011) As the train bears down on him, the jaguar makes a desperate last second swerve #2022MMM

Everyone knows that to outrun something right on your tail, you run straight and fast. The jaguar sprints down the tracks, but he is an ambush predator, meant for explosive bursts of speed, not for maintaining speed over long distances. (Seymour 1989) #2022MMM

The jaguar however is naive to trains. Faced with an onslaught of terrifying noise and movement, he takes a moment to try to identify the threat, and then does the logical thing. He turns runs away from it as fast as possible. #2022MMM

The bear has encountered trains before, and breaks right, gallumphing across the tracks and into the screen of trees. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj-UxzC2Wz0 #2022MMM

The tracks vibrate under his feet, and Jag freezes again, unsure of what this means. Suddenly around the corner comes the CP train with "bright lights glaring, engine roaring and horn blaring." #2022MMM...

Jag sees the shaggy humped form of the Grizz waddling slowly down the tracks. Jag doesn't know what to make of this unfamiliar creature. He crouches down and slinks obliquely downwind of the Grizz hoping to catch an identifying scent.

He steps on to the railway tracks #2022MMM

Head low ,snuffling back and forth between the rails looking for tasty treats, Grizz misses when Jaguar is MMMagicked nearby. #2022MMM

West of Banff, Grizz is wandering the railroad tracks searching for some of the estimated 110 tons of grain that spill from rail cars per year in the area. (Gangadharan et al. 2017) #2022MMM zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/acv.123...

As the day breaks, a Canada Pacific train hauling cargo from Calgary to the port of Vancouver pulls past the station in Banff National Park in Alberta. Among the cargo is wheat and barley destined for overseas markets #2022MMM https://www.cpr.ca/en/our-markets/grain

Jaguars overlapped with the Mexican Brown Bear as recently as the mid 20th century in northern Mexico. However this particular jaguar is from the Yucatan and has no personal or recent ancestral experience with grizzlies #2022MMM...

Holding onto food is good as Rocky Mountains grizzlies have lower reproductive rates compared to populations elsewhere partially due to food scarcity, i.e no rich streams of salmon or large herds of ungulates
(Dorsey 2011) #2022MMM...

Both of our competitors faced down other large carnivores over kills, and managed to avoid intraguild predation in the last round. However Grizz held on to his meal, while Jag lost his. #2022MMM

Next up, #1 seed Grizzly Bear vs. #4 seed Jaguar #2022MMM

Amazing diagrams for this battle were done by @am_anatiala #2022MMM

PRIDE OF LIONESSES DEMOLISHES SNEAK OF WEASELS!!!!! #2022MMM

AM: ...back? We're back! And as for the weasel. AH: Sigh. Body has surfaced but...Wait. WAIT. Was that a twitch??? AM: That was a fish nibbling at...Look, Anne, we just gotta accept this. It's ground-confirmed. AH: *grumbles* stupid burly *grumbles* #2022MMM

*PLEASE STANDBY* #2022MMM

AH: Is that the weasel surfacing??

AM: Looks like it, but can't tell his status, this da-ahem-darn connection.

AH: No worries, let me slap the monitor

AM: Anne don't! #2022MMM

AM: Do we have eyes on the weasel?? Ground? Where is he?

AH: It looks like the lioness ran out of the marsh, if the weasel survived the trampling...

AM: Yeah as we said earlier they can swim so maybe he is just swimming away underwater?
#2022MMM