Meeting Abstract
Since 2013, the blog “Mammals Suck… Milk” has featured a virtual combat competition among 65 species of animals in a virtual tournament called March Mammal Madness, in honor of the NCAA College Basketball March Madness Championship Tournament. The competition started as a thought experiment among colleagues and has become a pedagogical innovation that engages people from around the globe by creatively integrating scientific literature, original artwork, and digital technologies. Briefly, the winners of simulated animal battles are determined by a probabilistic function of the two species’ attributes within a preselected or randomized habitat. Scientific literature is cited to substantiate likely outcomes should the two species encounter one another. Battles are “live-tweeted” by a team of scientists and battle summaries are available afterwards through various virtual media, including Facebook and a library guide created by Arizona State University. Throughout the multi-week competition, participants learn about biological concepts including inter-species interactions, how natural selection has shaped adaptations, conservation management, and the significance of both arts and sciences in education. Here, we summarize the success of the latest championship (#2018MMM) by estimating the potential impact of broadcasting research through social media and classrooms, and by sharing reactions from participants. Our estimates strongly suggest that more people are participating in the championship every year, likely promoting one goal of the competition to inspire awe for the natural world.
