March Mammal Madness is an alternate March Madness tournament focusing on simulated combat between organisms of all kinds, despite the name. Katie Hinde created March Mammal Madness, using a 64-animal bracket, with the goal of using biological research to create (simulated) battles.
Katie Hinde, originally an assistant professor in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and currently an associate professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University, later brought in three other educators to help her organize the event. This includes assistant professor at Boston University School of Medicine Kristi Lewton, a lecturer at State University of New York Joshua Drew, and assistant professor at Dominican University Christopher Anderson. Along with these educators, a team of artists led by Charon Henning provides artwork of the various mammal competitors throughout the tournament. Together, they research all of the combatants, using what they learned to provide entertainment and information.
In 2017, more educators were added on to the March Mammal Madness team to help. This includes Ph.D. student at the University of Notre Dame Mauna Dasari, postdoctoral fellow at the University of Notre Dame Marc Kissel, post-doctoral researcher and instructor at the University of Utah Patrice Kurnath genetics, genomics, and the phylogeny of the various mammals participating. This includes Anne Stone of the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, and Melissa Wilson Sayres from the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University.
Bracket The bracket itself is modeled after the NCAA championship, including an Elite Eight and a Final Four. The bracket is divided into four divisions, which change yearly. The 64 animals are chosen and put into the various divisions based on their characteristics. In the 2015 bracket, the chosen divisions were Mighty Mini Mammals, Mythical Mammals, Critically Endangered Mammals, and Sexy Beasts. Mammals such as the dwarf mongoose and the Java mouse-deer were chosen for the Mighty Mini Mammals, while legendary beasts such as Ratatoskr and the Yeti battled it out in the Mythical Mammals. The mammals compete against others in their division, eventually working their way down to the Final Four (one from each division), and finally the championship.
Battles The battles are decided by a mix of scientific research and chance. Katie Hinde and the March Mammal Madness organizing team do in-depth research on the contestants. Temperament, diet, social behavior, environment, size, and fight style are just a few of the factors taken into consideration. After these factors are weighed against each other, the team determines probability of one animal defeating another. This is how they develop the seed, or rank, of each animal. Then a 100 sided die is rolled with a determined percentage numbers attributed to each animal. This adds an element of chance, since in sport nothing is guaranteed. Additionally, the environment in which the encounter takes place can be a major factor in the outcome. For the first few rounds, each fight takes place in the environment of the higher seeded animal. After the Sweet Sixteen, it is chosen at random and announced immediately prior to the encounter.
Combining research with an element of chance has led to some major upsets, just like in real life. In round one of the 2015 Mighty Mini Mammal division, the 14th-seeded numbat defeated the 3rd-seed quokka. The research is then used to create a narrative to explain the loss. The narratives can range from a serious battle, to humorous happenstance. In 2014, research showed the pangolin to be the most trafficked animal on the planet. Before the match even began, the pangolin was captured by poachers and shipped away, forfeiting the fight. Each round has a scheduled day and time, found on Arizona State's March Mammal Madness blog.
Instead of just announcing the winners, the written narratives are live-tweeted as if the match was happening in real time. Fans can follow along and tweet back using the designated March Mammal Madness hashtag, creating a fun and exciting atmosphere where people can learn about the animals they support. The creators use a combination of gamification, social media, and narrative in an attempt to make scientific research more accessible. As of 2019, approximately 1100 scholarly works have been represented by March Mammal Madness, which reached about 1% of all high school students in the United States.
In 2017, the wildcard match was performed as a live-action movie to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the tournament. The wildcard match was also done with four mammal competitors instead of the usual two. Members of the March Mammal Madness team dressed up as the competing mammals and acted out the battle in front of a green screen. The battle was then edited together and the final video was tweeted out during the first day of the 2017 March Mammal Madness season.
In 2018, brief summaries of the battles in the style of sports reporting were added, providing for a short recap of each encounter.
Past battle outcomes All past battle outcomes and play by plays of the battles can be found on the March Mammal Madness Archives.
All tables begin with round two, after the first elimination. The animals' seed number is in parentheses (after round 2 only). If no animals advanced the cell is grey, if the animal was the champion the cell is gold.
2013 Divisions: Carnivores, Primates, Grazers and Browsers, and Hodge Podge Division Round 2 Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four Finals Champion Carnivores Tiger, honey badger, river otter, elephant seal, hyena, lion, leopard seal, polar bear Honey badger (8), elephant seal (4), lion (3), polar bear (2) Elephant seal (4), polar bear (2) Elephant seal (4) Primates Gorilla, Hanuman langur, hamadryas, Anubis baboon, gelada, chimpanzee, uakari, orangutan Gorilla (1), Anubis baboon (4), chimpanzee (3), orangutan (2) Gorilla (1), chimpanzee (3) Gorilla (1) Grazers and Browsers Elephant, oryx, tapir, bison, moose, hippopotamus, elk, rhinoceros Elephant (1), bison (4), hippopotamus (3), rhinoceros (2) Elephant (1), hippopotamus (3) Elephant (1) Elephant (1)Elephant Hodge Podge Kangaroo, platypus, armadillo, possum, flying fox, warthog, sloth, koala Armadillo (12), kangaroo (1), warthog (3), sloth (10) Kangaroo (1), warthog (3) Warthog (3) Warthog (3)
Animals which did not advance to round two: ferret, wolverine, leopard, meerkat, coyote, fennec fox, Tasmanian devil, island fox, dik-dik, camel, wildebeest, gerenuk, reindeer, gazelle, giraffe, duiker, shrew, anteater, wombat, ground squirrel, capybara, sugar glider, red panda, tenrec, naked mole rat, dusky titi monkey, rhesus macaque, lemur catta, bush baby, capuchin, tamarin, red colobus, marmoset
2014 Divisions: Social Mammals, Marine Mammals, Who in the What Now, and Fossil Mammals
Division Round 2 Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four Finals Champion Social Mammals Hyena, musk ox, hamadryas, mandrill, Ethiopian wolf, Tibetan macaque, African wild dogs, army ants Hyena (1), African wild dogs (3), musk ox (2), army ants (12) Hyena (1), musk ox (2) Hyena (1) Hyena (1)Hyena (1) Marine Mammals Orca, sea lion, walrus, humpback whale, bowhead whale, oceanic whitetip shark, dwarf sperm whale, polar bear Polar bear (2), orca (1), humpback whale (4), oceanic whitetip shark (3) Orca (1), oceanic whitetip shark (3) Orca (1) Orca (1) Who in the What Now Dhole, binturong, cassowary, caracal, saiga, wallaroo, fossa, babirusa Babirusa (3), wallaroo (10), binturong (5), dhole (1) Babirusa (3), binturong (5) Babirusa (3) Fossil Mammals Mastodon, Paraceratherium, woolly rhinoceros, short-faced bear, giant hyena, sabertooth cat, giant ground sloth, Neanderthal Mastodon, (1) Paraceratherium (2), woolly rhino (3), giant ground sloth (13) Paraceratherium (2), mastodon (1) Paraceratherium (2)
Animals which did not advance to round two: titi monkey, dingo, meerkat, beaver, marmot, bush dog, hyrax, bandicoot, fisher, saki monkey, Sunda colugo, pangolin, echidna, olinguito, mara, A. afarensis, A. sediba, dire wolf, aurochs, giant giraffid, megalania, rhino wombat, giant baboon, Godzilla platypus, sea otter, beluga whale, harbor seal, river dolphin, hooded seal, ringed seal, narwhal, manatee
2015 Divisions: Mighty Minis, Critically Endangered, Mythical Mammals, and Sexy Beasts
Division Round 2 Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four Finals Champion Mighty Minis Fennec fox, desert rain frog, pygmy rabbit, tenrec, pygmy marmoset, numbat, Java mouse-deer, dwarf mongoose Fennec fox (1), tenrec (13), numbat (14), dwarf mongoose (2) Tenrec (13), dwarf mongoose (2) Dwarf mongoose (2) Dwarf mongoose (2) Critically Endangered Sumatran rhino, tenkile, Visayan warty pig, crested black macaque, Iberian lynx, Mediterranean monk seal, northern muriqui, tamaraw Sumatran rhino (1), crested black macaque (4), Mediterranean monk seal (3), tamaraw (2) Sumatran rhino (1), tamaraw (2) Sumatran rhino (1) Sumatran rhino (1)Sumatran rhino (1) Mythical Mammals Cath Palug, Unicorn, Rougarou, Yeti, Leucrocotta, Ratatoskr, Hanuman, Minotaur Cath Palug (1), Yeti (now a Were-Yeti after a Rougarou bite) (4), Leucrocotta (6), Minotaur (2) Were-Yeti (4), Minotaur (2) Were-Yeti (4) Sexy Beasts Amphicyonidae, lion, Daeodon, brown bear, wolverine, Gigantopithecus, kangaroo, elephant seal Amphicyonidae (1), brown bear (4), Gigantopithecus (3), elephant seal (2) Brown bear (4), elephant seal (2) Brown bear (4)
Animals which did not advance to round two: jerboa, bumblebee bat, tent-making bat, pygmy mouse lemur, least weasel, pygmy possum, quokka, social tuco-tuco, dormouse, Kanko, Pegasus, Pooka, Ichneumon, Water Horse, Greek Sphinx, Kishi, Colo Colo, yellow-bellied marmot, bighorn sheep, olive baboon, vervet monkey, bongo, koala, Irish elk, European hare, silver pika, black dorcopsis, cloud rat, Siau Island tarsier, Javan slow loris, riverine rabbit, saola, Sibree's dwarf lemur
2016 Divisions: Cold-Adapted Mammals, Mighty Giants, Mammal Mascots, and Mammals of the Nouns. For the mascot mammal bracket, the university and the mammal the mascot represents are linked separately.
Division Round 2 Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four Finals Champion Cold-Adapted Mammals Polar bear, hoary marmot, Arctic fox, takin, Pallas' cat, wolverine, Andean mountain cat, snow leopard Polar bear (1), takin (4), wolverine (3), snow leopard (2) Polar bear (1), wolverine (3) Wolverine (3) Mighty Giants Giant panda, Indian giant squirrel, giant anteater, giant river otter, greater mouse deer, large tree shrew, giant flying fox, giant forest hog Giant panda (1), giant anteater (5), greater mouse deer (6), giant forest hog (2) Giant panda (1), giant forest hog (2) Giant forest hog (2) Giant forest hog (2) Mammal Mascots Howard bison, Quinnipiac bobcat, West Point mules, UW badger, UA Russian boar, UT Longhorn, CSU bighorn sheep, Coast Guard Academy bear Howard bison (1), West Point mules (5), UT Longhorn (3), Coast Guard Academy bear (2) Howard bison (1), UT Longhorn (3) Howard bison (1) Mammals of the Nouns Goat of the mountain, hyrax of the rock, wallaby of the swamp, otter of the sea, dog of the bush, porcupine of the cape, polecat of the steppe, wolf of the tundra Goat of the mountain (1), otter of the sea (4), porcupine of the cape (3), wolf of the tundra (2) Goat of the mountain (1), wolf of the tundra (2) Wolf of the tundra (2) Wolf of the tundra (2)Wolf of the tundra (2)