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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Can confirm that this battle was in part inspired by personal rodent traumas #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Otter's one good eye has already spotted the limestone escarpment and he flees BEYOND THE FIELD OF BATTLE! #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Left eye sand-filled & watering, Japanese Otter leaps away from the Saudi Gazelle.... no longer up-wind, she has detected fish & Otter! WILL SHE BOLT!?!?! #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Unheard in the sand-laden wind, female Saudi Gazelle's front hoof whisper-grazes the Otter, who whips sideways in the wind around toward the intruder! #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Back to the wind, desert dust & sand begins clinging to Otter's damp coat, blowing into his fur, swirling around him to cover cover fish flesh! Mid-rip Otter can feel the sand gritting against his teeth! #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Sitting with casual mustelid satisfaction, Japanese Otter begins ripping and shearing fish flesh with his CANINES and CARNASSIALS when #MMMagic translocates him to the Arabian peninsula! (Yamamoto & Ando 2011) #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

A large male Japanese Otter, bane of local aquaculture, has successfully swiped a prized Ayo from a commercial fishing operation. Gripping the fish in his SHARP POINTY TEETH, Otter scurries out of the water to bank & shakes droplets of water from his thick fur pelt (Yamamoto & Ando 2011) #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

MEANWHILE... in 1965 Japan, once widespread, the endemic otter has this year been designated "Special Natural Monument Animal" in light of its declining population numbers. (Yamamoto & Ando 2011) #2026MMM"

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

The female Saudi Gazelle back to the wind her head away from the dust and sand whipping in the wind, revealing her particularly long, rapier horns, longer than found in nearly every other gazelle species, her large ears bent against the wind. #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Particles of dust and sand of a great mid-March sandstorm have arrived, blowing across the sea from the Indian sub-continent, adapted to the hyper-arid environment, a female Saudi Gazelle walks toward the limestone escarpment for a windbreak refuge (Kunte & Aswini 2015). #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Tonight's encounter occurs on the Arabian peninsula in 1934, near the western part of Ar-Rub' al Khali, where desert dunes meet the limestone escarpment of Jabal Tuwayq at the end of the greatest expanse of windblown sand on Earth. (Carruthers & Schwarz 1935) #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Japanese Otter populations were over-hunted for their pelt. No longer a game animal in 1928, their population continued to decline from polluted rivers impacting their health & food supply. Not observed since 1979, Japanese otters were officially declared extinct in 2012 (Park et al. 2019) #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Japanese Otters were up to 31.5 in (80 cm) long & had dark brown fur & webbed feet, similar to extant otters in the genus Lutra. #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Saudi gazelles were declared extinct in 2008, w/ the last observed in 1970. Though this species was present from Kuwait to Yemen, they were not common & populations declined due to hunting. Remaining Saudi Gazelle populations decreased due to hybridization with other species of gazelles. #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Saudi Gazelles stand approximately 25 in (65 cm) at the shoulder & weigh up to 44 lbs (20 kg). Like other gazelles, they have two forward-curved horns on their head. #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

NEXT UP: 8-seeded Saudi Gazelle (Gazella saudiya) vs. 9-seeded Japanese Otter (Lutra nippon) #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Stellar's Sea Cow DE-SEATS St Kilda House Mouse #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Mouse drifts off into the shallow waters of the Bering Sea! #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

WOOOSHHHH! Sea Cow lowers himself several inches deeper into the water, using his pectoral fins to grab algae. The ice cold water sweeps Mouse away. #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Sea Cow lifts his nostrils out of the water to breathe (which they need to do every 4-5 minutes; Forsten & Youngman 1982). Mouse is startled by the sudden noise... and runs to the edge where the Sea Cow's "rocky" back meets the water... #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Smaller mammals have higher metabolic rates for their body size & often fuel their reproductive demands based on the “income” of what they eat (Williams et al. 2017; Josefson et al. 2024). Sea Cows can fuel pregnancy & lactation from stored energy (“capital”) when kelp is not abundant. #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Mouse is "nutrient recycling", consuming her offspring to recover the bodily resources, such as calcium from her own skeleton, that she liquified & transported to "3D print" her young in her uterus. Now starving to death, mouse mum needs those resources BACK! (Hood 2012). #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Mama mouse catches a whiff of her pup & BEGINS TO EAT THE BEBE! (Lane-Petter 1968). #ForbiddenJellyBean #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Mouse clenches again and... begins to give birth! Stressors, like famine, can induce early labor in mice (Garcia-Flores et al. 2020). #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Mouse pauses & clenches... and turns to quickly return to her nest when MMMagic translocates Mouse to damp, almost rock-like terrain not terribly unlike Hirta... BUT it is the the back of Sea Cow!! #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Mouse is extra hungry due because she is heavily pregnant! Her energy demands are increased (Gittleman & Thompson 1988) & energy balance largely determines reproductive performance in mice... but now starving, her reproduction must be traded off against own condition (Bronson 1979). #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

MEANWHILE on Hirta, the largest island in the St Kilda archipelago, Mouse is also unsuccessfully foraging. Without humans for the last 6 months on whom she relies for food, starvation is coming- she foraged the last left-behind scattered grains several days ago. #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

TONIGHT’S BATTLE takes place in the early 1760s in the shallow waters around the Commander Islands far West in the Aleutian Islands chain. Sea Cow forages unsuccessfully for Dragon kelp, which is only present May-Sept & Sea Cow may have fasted for months (Le Duc et al. 2022). #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

St. Kilda House Mouse is a subspecies of Library Legends combatant (house mouse, Mus musculus) but should not be confused with the still-living St. Kilda field mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus hirtensis). #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

The St. Kilda House Mouse (Mus musculus muralis) likely arrived via Viking ships to the Scottish St. Kilda archipelago & remained commensal with humans until August 1930 when the last of the dwindling St Kilda community departed (Jones et al. 2010). #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Steller’s Sea Cow was documented in 1741 & extinct by 1768 (Turvey & Risley 2005). Sea Cow was buoyant & had up to 10 cm of blubber. Their skin was thick, hairless, and described by Georg Steller as “more the bark of an old oak tree, than the skin of an animal” (Le Duc et al. 2022). #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Steller’s Sea Cow was the largest member of order Sirenia, with an estimated length of 7.5m (24.6ft) (Forsten & Youngman 1982). Other members of Sirenia include dugongs and manatees (which can be distinguished from one another by their tails). #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

UP NEXT: 1st-seeded Steller's Sea Cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) vs. 16th-seeded St Kilda House Mouse (Mus musculus muralis) #2026MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Narwhal follows another Arctic char, flushing it to the surface only to be snatched by a glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus) (O'Corry-Crowe et al. 2025). #2025MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Cold-water drowning can happen in minutes in the Arctic Sea: "Thermal conductivity of water is 20 to 25 times that of air, so a body will lose heat approximately three times faster in water than in air." (Rolf & Gallagher 2018) #2025MMM

media.tenor.com

a dalmatian dog is sitting in the snow with a quote from the movie 101 dalmatians .

ALT: a dalmatian dog is sitting in the snow with a quote from the movie 101 dalmatians .

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Narwhal's large, hollow horn is aimed at Zebra, who is treading water with greater and greater difficulty... until... Zebra sinks below the icy water's surface... forever #2025MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

...Zebra grows sluggish as the blood vessels in his legs constrict to redirect blood towards core organs. Zebra's legs become tired as his muscles run out of available energy after shivering in hopes of producing body heat (thermogenesis) #2025MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Though many mammals exhibit some degree of the mammalian diving reflex (or response), it is much stronger in aquatic mammals like Narwhal than terrestrial species. This physiological reflex is triggered by submersion in cold water & likely helps preserve oxygen stores (Godek & Freeman 2022) #2025MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

As Narwhal returns from the depths, he spots something strange moving at the surface above. Narwhal’s laterally-oriented, smaller optic nerve canals mean that he likely has reduced depth perception but a wider field of view (monocular vision) (Racicot et al. 2018) #2025MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Zebra’s legs “stride powerfully underwater” (Stone 2008) as he attempts to swim to land he assumes would be surely upstream… but where? #2025MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

But the water is much colder than Zebra was expecting. MMMagic has transported this odd-toed ungulate to the open waters of Baffin Bay, where sea ice is reaching its maximum coverage this time of year (Harning et al. 2021). #2025MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

In the grasslands of the Mountain Zebra National Park in S. Africa, Zebra has just finished grazing for grasses and is at a watering hole for his daily drink of water (Penzhorn 1988). He takes a few steps into the water. #2025MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Narwhal's fishy playmate makes a quick escape by rapidly swimming in the opposite direction (O'Corry-Crowe et al. 2025). Narwhal plunges deeper into the Bay. #2025MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

The function of Narwhal’s tusk (actually, a long, spiraled tooth!) is unclear, but very recent work shows that they are used in prey capture and in “exploration and likely play” (O’Corry-Crowe et al. 2025). #2025MMM

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Dr. Chloe Josefson @chloejosefson.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

TONIGHT, we find Narwhal in the North Water Polynya in the northern Baffin Bay region of the Arctic. Narwhal swims near the surface, his tusk closely pursuing a single Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus). #2025MMM

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