THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR ANOTHER MMMAGNIFICENT JOURNEY OF SCIENCE, STORY, & NATURE. Y'all are the very best! #2026MMM Until next time, be well, good night & good luck.

WINNER of the #2026MMM CHAMPIONSHIP: HUMPBACK WHALE! Please join us next year for #2027MMM! Don't forget: if you're learning, you're winning.

CHAMPION⛵ #2026MMM EMOJI BATTLE: 🐋🆚🐊: 🪄🪸/🌕🌊🆗/🐋🩹🗡️/ 🐊🤨🏊🏾‍♂️/🦈🔁🤱🏼🙂‍↔️/🦈🐊💀🙂‍↕️/ 🐋🤨👉🏼💀/🐊🙅🏾‍♂️🍽️🥶/👶🏼🔁🐊/ 👶🏼👉🏼👃🏼🐊/🐊💥👶🏼🐳/🐋👶🏼😡/ 🐋🔜🐊⤵️/🐋🫧🐊😵‍💫/🐋💥🐊/ 🐊🏊🏾‍♂️👋🏼/🏆🐋

Pizzigalli et al. (2025) used mtDNA from tissue & poop samples to investigate croc diversity in Guinea Bissau in W. Africa. They found evidence for Nile crocodile (previously thought to be extinct in that region 200 years ago)! doi.org/10.1038/s415... #2026MMM #RIP

#2026MMM #Champion #MoneyDivision #TeamHumpbackWhale Art by Olivia Pellicer @opellisms.bsky.social ,Valeria Pellicer @veppart.bsky.social , Mary C. Freisner @maryfreisner.bsky.social ,and Charon Henning @oddangel.bsky.social

MAMA HUMPBACK WHALE DEFEATS NILE CROCODILE! HUMPBACK WHALE is #2026MMM CHAMPION! Artwork by @veppart.bsky.social & @opellisms.bsky.social !!!

TO SWIM FLEE THE FIELD OF BATTLE!!!!! #2026MMM

NILE CROCODILE'S tucks his limbs to his body #TorpedoMode AND SWOOOOOSHES HIS POWERFUL TAIL... (Pooley & Gans 1976) #2026MMM

Humback Whale rolls & thrashes with her long pectoral flippers, shaking her head she delivers a body blow to Nile Crocodile!! #KnockinSkullToCrackRibs (Ford & Reeves 2008) #2026MMM

DIVING DOWN, Mama Humpback Whale FORCEFULLY EXHALES at the Nile Crocodile sending air bubbles enveloping Nile Crocodile limiting the reptile's situational awareness! (Ford & Reeves 2008) #FogOfWar #2026MMM

Nile Crocodile drop submerges to escape! #2026MMM

WITH A TRUMPET BLOW & FLUKE SLAP, the highly agitated Humpback Whale CHARGES Nile Crocodile! (Ford & Reeves 2008) #2026MMM

AND HUMPBACK WHALES CHOOSE VIOLENCE! (Ford & Reeves 2008) #2026MMM

Among baleen whales, species cluster in their response to predators- some species use FLIGHT: swimming fast & far to flee, while other species use FIGHT in self-defense, collective defense, or defense of calf! (Ford & Reeves 2008) #2026MMM

Humpback Whale calf exhales a wheezing blow indicating fright (Frediani et al. 2020), alerting Mama Humpback Whale to her calf's distress! #2026MMM

The calf's flipper flicks Nile Crocodile snoot and the Nile Crocodile lifts & tosses his head to bash the calf's rostrum #2026MMM

WHEN THE PLAYFUL HUMPBACK WHALE CALF BEGINS SURFACE-TWIRLING IN CURIOSITY TO NILE CROCODILE! #2026MMM

But the cool ocean water is slowing his disgestion; Nile Crocodile needs to haul out in the heat of the day to more optimally digest! Turning away from the carcass to swim toward the nearby island... slightly further away bc high tide #2026MMM

Nile Crocodile's stomach secretes hydrochloric acid to make stomach fluids at ph1.5 to break down bone, skin, meat... AND MMMOLD. Indeed crocodilians have MULTIPLE mechanisms that protect them from pathogenic fungi!!!! (Williams et al. 2023) #2026MMM theconversation.com/crocodiles-a...

Meanwhile, Nile Crocodile gorged on Banteng Monday; his gut passage time is 72+ hours. (Pooley & Gans 1976) #2026MMM

Mama Humpback swims along side the Humpback whale, extending her long flipper above and below the carcass, and touching the carcass gently with her flipper... (Frediani et al. 2020) #2026MMM #AlasPoorYorick #IKnewHimHoratio #AFellowOfInfiniteJest #OfMostExcellentFancy

Mama Humpback Whale is ALSO curious about the dead whale and approaches to investigate the floating carcass, known as Post-Mortem Attentive Behavior (Frediani et al. 2020) #2026MMM

With lazy tail strokes, Nile Crocodile crusies to investigate the carcass as great white shark circles elsewhere to join the floating carcass feast... #2026MMM

Bobbing in the water is the carcass of a male Humpback Whale, already being scavenged by TIGER SHARKS & ESTUARINE CROCODILE!!!! #Saltie FOR REAL OBSERVATION AT MONTGOMERY REEF!!!! (Gallagher et al. 2018) #2026MMM

A great white shark swims along and circles Humpback Whale & calf, inspecting them for vulnerabilities, but disinclined to tangle with a Humpback Whale with only a minor injury. And there's something more enticing on the horizon... (Dines & Gennari 2020) #2026MMM

A FIN RISES IN THE WATER! #2026MMM

ALTHOUGH Combatant Nile Crocodile has only experienced the freshwater of Lake Victoria area swamplands... many a Nile Crocodile has enjoyed the transitional salt life, once living very successfully in coastal river delta areas (de Smet 1998; Ijeomah et al. 2012; Abdelsalam et al. 2024) #2026MMM

Nile Crocodile swims several whale-lengths, ~200 stoat-lengths, ahead of Humpback Whale intrigued by something ahead... #2026MMM

Mama Humpback Whale's puncture wound from Aurochs horn is in the first stages of healing (inflammatory phase); She has formed a blood clot, the "blood vessels have dilated to allow for antibodies, white blood cells, & nutrients to reach the wound" (Hill et al. 2017) #2026MMM

The tide is up +10 meters, giving Humpback Whale and calf enough vertical column for manueverability over Montgomery Reef; with high water nigh, it's also SLACK TIDE- the ocean conditions are relatively calm!!! #2026MMM

BUT RIGHT NOW IT IS ONLY MINUTES FROM HIGH TIDE!!!!! #2026MMM

The shelf that is Montgomery Reef 'rises' 12 feet out of the water at low tide, into the air & sunshine- an environmental challenge that selects for extremely resilient adaptations in the coral species of the reef!!! #2026MMM www.pew.org/en/research-...

And the most extreme tides happen during the full moon... let's check the moon phase chart... and the time difference between New York City & Broome Australia... #FullMoon #2026MMM www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcGE...

Montgomery Reef is famous for the most extreme tropical tides in the world, forming whirlpools & horizontal waterfalls So forceful are the ocean tides that freshwater flow from rivers during the wet season (happening NOW) barely shifts water salinity at the river mouth (Ivey et al. 2016) #2026MMM

AND HERE BE MONSTERS: tiger sharks, great white sharks, estuarine crocodiles, & ORCAS!!!! (Gallagher et al. 2018; Hutchings et al. 2025) #2026MMM

Specifically, Montgomery Reef in the Indian Ocean off the coast of the Kimberly Region of northwestern Australia (Wilson & Blake 2011) #2026MMM

WHEN SUDDENLY Nile Crocodile & Humpback Whale and calf are #MMMagically Translocated to the randomly determined habitat... OCEAN REEF!!! #2026MMM

MEANWHILE: Back in Lake Victoria... Nile Crocodile is resting & digesting his meal of banteng #2026MMM

During this 1st month that the calf is particularly vulnerable, mama Humpback Whale & calf have been almost constantly swimming, rarely resting & staying vigilant. (Cartright & Sullivan 2009) #2026MMM

The shallows avoids pestery male Humpback Whales, closer to the continent, shallows also gives mama Humpback Whale advantages in fighting off predatory Orca. #2026MMM

Tonight, once again, Humpback Whale is in her shallow winter waters, the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, the warmer tropical waters where she gave birth to her calf almost 2 weeks ago. #2026MMM

Sales‑Oliveira et al. (2023) found that croc chromosomes are conservative maintaining similar karyotype structures & diploid chrom numbers for ~100 MY! Most Crocodylinae (including Nile Crocodile) maintain the ancestral number of 2n = 32 (16 pairs) #2026MMM doi.org/10.1007/s004...

#2026MMM #Championship #LibraryDivision #TeamNileCrocodile Art by Mary C. Freisner @maryfreisner.bsky.social and Charon Henning @oddangel.bsky.social

Nile Crocodile has outlasted Papyrus, Mouse, Gray Fox, Lions, & Honey Badger to reach this Championship Battle! #2026MMM

There are many ways to get animal DNA! In a preprint (not yet peer-reviewed), scientists have shown that instead of invasive biopsies, they can generate whole genomes for humpback whales by non-invasively sampling their exhaled respiratory vapor or ‘blow’! #2026MMM doi.org/10.64898/2026.03.08.710374

#2026MMM #Championship #MoneyDivision #TeamHumpbackWhale Art by Olivia Pellicer @opellisms.bsky.social and Valeria Pellicer @veppart.bsky.social

Humpback Whale has outlasted Red Squirrel, Eastern Gorilla, Indian Rhino, Common Hippopotamus, & Aurochs to battle to be the #2026MMM Champion!

Humpback Whale vs. Nile Crocodile is the 900th BATTLE IN MARCH MAMMAL MADNESS HISTORY!!!!! #2026MMM #MMMath

And since this is the final battle of the 14th Season w/ 64 battles each season... & adding in the exhibition battles of 2022 10th extravaganza (Ye Olde Timey Battle, #MMMafterDark Battle, Kid Narrator Battle, & @natickbobcat.bsky.social vs. RadiationMouth Jeopardy Showdown)... #2026MMM

Tonight's battle is a collaboration between @marckissel.bsky.social & myself #2026MMM