March Mammal Madness is back at Burroughs again!
March Mammal Madness (MMM) is organized by Dr. Katie Hinde, a professor at Arizona State University, and is a simulated tournament that includes 64 unique animal species. These selected animals compete against one another in a bracket-style competition. The match-ups are created by professionals who consider the animals’ size, strength, behavior, and habitat.
Students get the opportunity to fill out their brackets with their predictions for this year’s match-up, which features unique species such as the Sparklemuffin Peacock Spider, the Elegant Dancing Frog, and Lucy (an early human). This year’s competitors also include egg-laying animals, not just mammals.
Science teacher Melanie Branson is ecstatic about the event.
“I love the excitement this tournament brings to the classroom, especially when students are talking adaptation advantages, better generalist survivors in varied habitats, and lots of science discussion. This can only be a good thing, seeing students excited about a science topic!” said Branson.
“Each year there are literary and art components that are also part of the scientific ‘battle’ narratives,” continued Branson. “This year I encouraged some of my budding artists to create their own trading card art pieces. Some of them turned out really good! Also, some of us ‘bookworms’ are looking forward to seeing how the Epic Division plays out and if any of the Epic “battles” are recounts from literary works or famous poems. I’m hoping my students will clue me in, if I miss one of those connections!”
March Mammal Madness supplements many of the educational topics explored in the Science Department.
“Along the way, I like to point out the ecology, physiology, and evolution facts tied to our curriculum,” said Branson.
Every year’s bracket offers a wide variety of animals and each battle is shared by the team of scientists on their Twitter page and YouTube channel to make the results fun to watch.
“It helps that Arizona State University (the sponsor) has funny ‘SNL (Saturday Night Live) meets the Muppets’ video match recaps with MC Marmot, which are hilarious,” said Branson. “We watch them in class the next day.”
The battles between the mammals can have unexpected outcomes that can completely change the tournament.
“MMM has enough random nature events happening that even a ‘solid A student’ who has spent hours researching their animals on the tournament bracket is not a guaranteed winner,” said Branson.
March Mammal Madness will continue throughout March, with the championship round taking place on March 31.
