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The March Sadness Cute Animal Faceoff, Round 3: Fins And Flippers

ThinkProgress
CREDIT: SHUTTERSTOCK
CREDIT: SHUTTERSTOCK

Welcome back to March Sadness, ClimateProgress’ educational bracket tournament of animals impacted by climate change and other environmental threats. For whichever animal wins, ClimateProgress will devote resources for a deep-dive feature article exploring the story behind what’s ailing your chosen critter. Read the rules here.

The first round of the Paws and Claws division has officially come to a close. In a stunning upset, number 7 seed Wolverine has beat out our number 2 seed Panda. And fan-favorite Koala has won in the battle against Lemur. Koala and Wolverine will go head-to-head later this week, as will our previous winners, Wombat and Pangolin.

Today, we enter Round 3 — our Fins and Flippers division. There will be some difficult choices. Sea Lion will go head-to-head with Sea Horse; Walrus will battle Sea Otter; Salmon will fight Whale; and you’ll have to choose between Manatee and Penguin. As always, you can vote in the embedded tweets below, on Twitter with the hashtag #CPMarchSadness, or on our Facebook page.

Sea Lion vs. Sea Horse

CREDIT: Shutterstock
CREDIT: Shutterstock

The plight of the California sea lion is getting really real this year. More than 1,450 pups have washed up on the state’s beaches this year, likely the highest number ever recorded. Scientists believe this is because of a rapidly changing environment driven by “unusually warm waters,” which are driving away food sources for sea lion moms. Because the moms can’t find food, the pups are starving.

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Seahorses, which live in fragile coastal ecosystems like coral reefs and mangroves, are especially vulnerable to the ecosystem disturbances brought on by warming ocean temperatures and ocean acidification. Increased flooding also puts seahorses at risk. For example, take the Knysna seahorse, which is extremely vulnerable to increases in water temperatures. In 1991, over 3,000 were found dead after heavy rainfall resulted in higher-than-normal temperatures.

Vote for your favorite below.

Walrus vs. Sea Otter

CREDIT: Shutterstock
CREDIT: Shutterstock

Sea otters are actually fighters of climate change: their main prey — sea urchins — like to eat kelp, so by keeping the sea urchin population at an acceptable level, they keep kelp forests lush, and kelp forests are good at storing carbon. But sea otters are also threatened by toxic algal blooms that are being exacerbated by climate change, and changes in ocean temperatures can also lead to food shortages for the otters.

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Last fall, a herd of 35,000 walrus were stranded on an Alaskan beach. Their normal summer resting place, Arctic sea ice in the Chukchi Sea, had receded too far north for the mammals to locate. This is a relatively new phenomenon — happening every year since 2008. As greenhouse gases continue to warm the planet and the Arctic faces more and more ice-free summers, walrus herds will have fewer and fewer places to rest, breed, and thrive.

Vote below!

Whale vs. Salmon

CREDIT: NOAA.gov/shutterstock
CREDIT: NOAA.gov/shutterstock

All whale species are grappling with a changing climate, but this week we’re talking about the North Atlantic Right Whale. With a population of about 450, it is believed to be the most endangered cetacean in the world. Warming oceans and changing ocean conditions due to climate change and ocean acidification make it harder for the whale, which has an exceptionally long migratory and gestation period, to prosper, and further threaten the species’ survival.

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Everyone loves salmon — we know that because it’s ranked in the top three seafoods by consumption for years. But salmon don’t love warming water so much — according to the Fish Info & Services Co., increased fluctuations in river flow tire out young salmon and sweep eggs out to sea.

Which one will advance to our sweet sixteen?

Penguin vs. Manatee

CREDIT: Shutterstock
CREDIT: Shutterstock

There are a lot of different types of penguins, and climate change is affecting all of them. Decreasing sea ice cover is preventing Emperor penguins from finding food and sheltering their babies. African penguins are declining in part due to fluctuations in water temperature and increased storms on their breeding grounds. And baby Magellanic penguins in Argentina are dying at an unprecedented rate due to heavy rains, strong storms and heat.

It may seem like big animals in tropical oceans can adapt to warmer waters better than their Arctic brethren. Manatees may prove this wrong, as a 2013 study suggested, pointing to increased habitat degradation and more severe red tide algal blooms.

Which one do you want to see in the next round?

***TOURNAMENT UPDATES:Day 1–3/19: Paws and Claws pt. 1 — Polar Bear vs. Wombat; Tasmanian Devil vs. Pangolin; (voting closed) WINNERS: Polar Bear and Pangolin.Day 2–3/20: Paws and Claws pt. 2 — Lemur vs. Koala; Panda vs. Wolverine (voting closed) WINNERS: Koala and Wolverine.Day 3–3/23: Fins and Flippers — Sea Lion vs. Sea Horse; Penguin vs. Manatee; Walrus vs. Sea Otter; Whale vs. Salmon (voting closed) WINNERS: Sea Horse, Sea Otter, Whale, and PenguinDay 4–3/24: Horns and Hooves — Elephant vs. Horned Lizard; Rhino vs. Narwhal; Saola vs. Moose; Mountain Goat vs. Reindeer (voting closed) WINNERS: Elephant, Narwhal, Moose, and Mountain Goat.Day 5–3/25: Shells and Wings — Sea Turtle vs. Pelican; Sage Grouse vs. Peregrine Falcon; Oyster vs. Butterfly; Lobster vs. Red Knot (voting closed)Day 6–3/26: Polar Bear vs. Pangolin; Koala vs. Wolverine (voting NOW OPEN)Day 7–3/27: Sea Horse vs. Whale; Sea Otter vs. PenguinDay 8–3/30: Elephant vs. Mountain Goat; Moose vs. NarwhalDay 9–3/31: Sea Turtle vs. Red Knot; Butterfly vs. Peregrine FalconDay 10–4/1: TBDDay 11–4/2: TBDDay 12–4/3: THE FINAL FOUR: TBD Day 13–4/6: THE CHAMPIONSHIP: TBD