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Kirby Apodaca
Wolverine is also watching the *young black bear cub* lean against the tree trunk, as tonight MMMagic fictitiously contributes to Sierra Wolverine reintroduction efforts, delivering Wolverine to cling part-way up a coniferous tree trunk. The black bear cub-of-the-year, recently emerged from the winter natal den and is just 8lbs having grown exclusively on mother's milk. Baby mammals are one trophic level above their mothers because moms are, in part, liquifying their own bodies to synthesize milk and nourish young. Soon the bear cub perks up and playfully does a summersault roll beyond the line of sight of Wolverine! Okapi shifts slightly and the waning sunlight illuminates a large scar on her haunch... evidence of a close encounter, but successful escape, from a leopard, Okapi's primary source of natural mortality. Indeed many Okapi in the wild carry such leopard scars.
Wolverine climbs a few feet up his tree trunk to a snagged deadfall tree, to better view the ursid version of veal. Wolverine winces slightly as his climbing rips the slowly healing wounds from golden eagle talons even of the Final Roar. Moving into the broken tree snag, Wolverine startles the tree's resident, a great gray owl (North America's largest owl!) with a unique population in the Sierra Nevada. Great gray owl, disinclined to build their own nests, instead make use of other animal's nests, and this one has co-opted the nest of a Western gray squirrel, to lay eggs. The unexpected Wolverine momentarily drives the owl from the tree. Wolverine is ravenous having eaten little during the 2023 MMM tournament, and has an injury that takes energy to heal. Wolverine quickly snarfs the owl eggs as Great Gray Owls are most aggressive in defense of nearly fledged nestlings (as per Solheim et al. 2023, the first ever documentation of wolverine predation on great gray owl nests).
Below the action in the trees, Okapi extends her tongue 25cm, 3/4ths a stoat, beyond her snoot to wipe some fallen pine needles from her eye. Wolverine, while ravenous, is not ENTIRELY reckless, and quickly shimmies away from the owl nest, down the tree trunk only a few feet from Okapi... But without a snowpack for Wolverine to use for the high ground advantage to ungulates sunk into the snow, Wolverine ignores Okapi, he has other, easier prey in his sights.
The randomly selected battle location is ephemeral wetlands, aka vernal pools, prairie potholes, or playa lakes, filled with snow melt and spring rains, which often dry up in summer. Ephemeral wetlands are important "stepping stones," or moist corridors, in wetland connectivity. These temporary habitats serve as rest stops for migratory birds and are safe havens for amphibians to lay their eggs due to a lack of predators that require more permanent waterways. Many macroinvertebrates and plants also thrive in ephemeral wetlands. Being ephemeral makes these wetlands hard to define and the US legal system struggles with squishy concepts. The 2015 Clean Water Rule of the Clean Water Act clarified that ephemeral wetland habitats are protected, but the rule was rolled back in 2019. The Navigable Waters Protection Rule did away with federal protections for "isolated" waters, such as our ephemeral wetlands. Some states, such as Wisconsin and Ohio, have picked up the slack to try and save these valuable ecosystems.
The motivation to pass on his genes via reproduction, known as direct fitness, is compelling. Male Kudu, like many male mammals, are never certain of paternity or fatherhood. And since in mammals, males do not gestate or lactate, for many species the best way to increase fitness is to mate with as many females as possible (but check out the Dad Bods Division for other adaptive dad strategies!). Female mammals bear the major costs of reproduction: gestating, birthing, and lactating for months or sometimes years. Female Okapi gestation averages 440 days and young are weaned between 6 months and a year. Because of these high costs, female Okapi will be picky about her mate. Male Kudu faces female Okapi and slowly approaches her. Ruminating on her last meal from the Congo, Okapi turns and walks away. Male Kudu follows. As part of Kudu courtship, males follow females, issuing a low-pitched call as they pursue. Female Okapi, while receptive, knows the difference between an Okapi and a , and she, of course, is quite picky about any potential mates. She kicks at male Kudu. Male Kudu is not deterred and continues to pursue female Okapi. Male Kudu comes up the side of Okapi and stands in front of her. He attempts to neck wrestle to form a pair bond. Female Okapi is having none of it. MMMagic did NOT bring them to the Yaqui Flower World where all animals are friends (or more than friends). Female Okapi throws her head side-to-side as a warning, then HEAD-SLAPS male Kudu with the side of her head to give a full contact blow to his neck!! To shut down the Kudu fully, female Okapi sits down on the ground. FINALLY getting the message, Kudu retreats into the cactus forest to forage and await a lady more receptive to him. OKAPI BEATS GREATER KUDU!!! Narrated by Dr. Jessica Light, Dr. Patrice Connors, Dr. Brian Tanis, Dr. Tara Chestnut, and Dr. Katie Hinde.
Closer... Closer... Closer... CLOSER! WOLVERINE IS 30m AWAY! Emperor Penguin just stands there watching the Wolverine approach. "Because emperor penguins are not threatened by any predators on land and do also not compete against each other for territories, evolutionary development of energy-consuming threatening behaviours would be of no use for the species" (Rmmler et al. 2021). But now that Wolverine is only 20m away, Emperor Penguin is getting a bit concerned and he starts agitatedly flipper-flapping! The flipper-flapping causes Wolverine to slow his roll, but stays on curious target... Wolverine is now 10m away. TOO CLOSE! Emperor Penguin waddle walks away from the intruder, flipper-flapping as he heads for the breaking waves of the Pacific Ocean! Wolverine watches with bemusement at the ocean-bound waddling and flipper-flapping Emperor Penguin, but is little inclined to give chase. Kill frequency in predators is determined by the size of a recent meal and the "gastric capacity" of the predator. Wolverine is still digesting rhea and has no room tonight for another avian meal. WOLVERINE DISPLACES EMPEROR PENGUIN! Narration by Dr. Lara Durgavich & Dr. Katie Hinde.
Having just been at the Top End of the Northern Territories eating Cathedral Termite, MMMagic brings Homo habilis just a hop, skip, and a jump southward to Uluru. Still grasping his dingo ulna, Homo habilis knows that replenishing his full Oldowan tool kit is high priority, and scans for appropriate rocks amidst the red sands and scrub-brush shaped by managed mosaic fire regimes. Homo habilis approaches a jumble of rocks. Golden Eagle streaks earthward, toward the movements of a fuzzy creature behind the rock jumble! Homo habilis is bent down, using the dingo ulna to leverage around the various jumbled rocks for any useful for his tool-making purposes. Homo habilis is getting hot in Australia under the sun, especially with the damaged ozone layer from modern human activities.
Golden Eagle has landed on the jumble of rocks and looks at Homo habilis crumbled unconscious on the ground, a smear of blood on a large rock near his head. Golden Eagle flight-hops toward unmoving Homo habilis. Homo habilis remains still. Golden Eagle flight-hops landing with her impressive talons next to Homo habilis' head and those vulnerable orbits...
ALL THIS ACTION HAS ATTRACTED ATTENTION FROM THE LOCAL APEX PREDATOR... DINGOES! Unconscious, Homo habilis is unable to apply any dingo safety training. And even standing at his full height, his small stature all alone on the landscape... As the dingo pack takes full advantage of the incapacitated hominin, Golden Eagle catches an invasive rabbit, contributing to Uluru's rabbit eradication program, ongoing since 1989. GOLDEN EAGLE DEFEATS HOMO HABILIS!!!! Narrated by Dr. Marc Kissel and Dr. Katie Hinde.
Golden Eagle (1) vs Palaeocastor fosser (5) - Palaeocastor is an extinct beaver that lived in the North American badlands over 20 million years ago; they never overlapped with humans. A living relative of Palaeocastor, the Eurasian Beaver, is a conservation success story. The Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) was once widespread in Europe and Asia but by the early 20th century was estimated to be less than 1200 individuals. Due to legal protection from hunting and at least 10 reintroductions starting as early as 1922, the Eurasian beaver now has a population that exceeds 600,000. Palaeocastor may be gone, but some of its relatives remain. Beavers once supported a widespread pond ecosystem in the Western US, but were hunted out of many places by the fur trade. Recovering these populations of ecosystem engineers helps support other species. Although the IUCN lists the Golden Eagle as a species of "least concern" globally, the species receives legal protection in the United States from the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. The predatory habits of the Golden Eagle, however, have threatened the recovery/status of other endangered species, including the channel island fox. Introduced feral pigs on the Channel Island of California prompted mainland golden eagles to expand their range to the islands, and their predatory presence nearly drove the channel island fox extinct. Fortunately, island fox species are recovering due to managed conservation efforts since 2006 to (1) translocate golden eagles from the island to the mainland and (2) remove feral pigs from the island. National Park Service describes island fox recovery as "an instructive example of how a coordinated, organized and highly focused strategy was able to reverse the certain extinction of an endangered population" (U.S. National Park Service, 2022). Tonight's battle is in the Golden Eagle's home habitat of the Scottish Highlands. And our Golden Eagle combatant is hungry.
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