Endangered Animal Bracket: The Final Four

Click image to expand. Now updated with Friday’s winners: Falcon and Elephant!

CREDIT: Dylan Petrohilos

This is it, folks: today’s the Final Four in March Sadness, ClimateProgress’ educational bracket tournament of animals impacted by climate change and other environmental threats. For whichever animal wins, ClimateProgress will write a feature-length article exploring the story behind what’s ailing your chosen critter, and who is working to save them. Read the rules here.

In the bracket battles leading up to today, you’ve voted through one animal from each of our four categories. From the Paws and Claws section, the number one seed Polar Bear has crushed the competition. She’ll be facing off today against Sea Otter, the number six seed of our Fins and Flippers division. In addition, Elephant — the number two seed of the Hooves and Horns category — will go head to head against the so-far indomitable Peregrine Falcon, the number seven seed in our Shells and Wings section.

For the final four, we’ll briefly re-cap all we’ve learned about the environmental threats facing each of these animals. Only your votes can decide who moves to the final round. Vote in the embedded tweets below, on Twitter with the hashtag #CPMarchSadness, or on our Facebook page.

Polar Bear vs. Sea Otter

CREDIT: Shutterstock/AP

Polar Bear: Here’s what we’ve learned about polar bears so far: They’re the world’s unofficial symbol of climate change. Arctic Sea decline is giving mother bears less time on the ice to hunt seals, and cubs are starving as a result. The story behind the animal is controversial — in a number of cases, polar bears have defied the odds, and in those cases their success story has become fodder for conservatives to support their argument that climate change isn’t real. At the same time, most scientists agree polar bears are in danger of extinction as the planet warms.

Sea Otter: A short re-cap: Sea Otters are being increasingly killed by toxic algae, which is expected to thrive in a warming world. And more severe weather is making it difficult for them to find food, contributing to starvation. That’s bad on its own, but what makes it worse is that the loss of sea otters due to climate change actually stands to make climate change worse. That’s because their main prey — sea urchins — like to eat kelp, so by keeping the sea urchin population at a sustainable level, they keep kelp forests lush. Kelp forests absorb a lot of carbon.

Which animal has a more interesting story? Which would you rather read about? Vote below.

Who's going to the championship? RETWEET for Polar Bear or FAVE for Sea Otter #CPMarchSadness http://t.co/gT4FLNoDGW pic.twitter.com/9WE0rRL9Tq

— Climate Progress (@climateprogress) April 6, 2015

Elephant vs. Peregrine Falcon

CREDIT: AP

Elephant: What have we learned about elephants so far? First, it’s clear humans are not these animals’ friends — not only is ivory poaching a problem, but growing human population is taking away their forest habitat, as are changes in land-use. What’s more, once-domesticated elephants in Asia are being left to starve or mistreated as the use of domestication loses popularity. Climate change is the nail in the proverbial coffin for this already-vulnerable animal — if temperatures rise even a few degrees higher than average in Myanmar, Asian elephants are in grave danger of dying of heat stroke, according to a 2013 study.

Peregrine Falcon: We’ve learned a great deal in a short time about the peregrine falcon, one of the fastest animals in the world. For one, the greatest threats to them come before they even know how to fly. Prolonged, heavy rains in the Arctic exacerbated by climate change are causing peregrine chicks to drown or die of hypothermia when the cold rain soaks through their fluffy down coats. Those rain spells are forcing some mother peregrines to give up. In one case, a mother who left her chicks in the rain and returned to find them visibly weakened killed both of them — the first case of infanticide ever recorded in wild peregrine falcons.

Which animal would you like hone in on and learn more about? Vote below.

Who will win? RETWEET for Elephant or FAVE for Peregrine Falcon #CPMarchSadness http://t.co/gT4FLNoDGW pic.twitter.com/uai6485buC

— Climate Progress (@climateprogress) April 6, 2015

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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 Penguin.

Day 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) WINNERS: Sea Turtle, Falcon, Butterfly, Red Knot.

Day 6 – 3/26: Polar Bear vs. Pangolin; Koala vs. Wolverine (voting closed) WINNERS: Polar Bear, Wolverine.

Day 7 – 3/27: Sea Horse vs. Whale; Sea Otter vs. Penguin (voting closed) WINNERS: Sea Horse, Sea Otter.

Day 8 – 3/30: Elephant vs. Mountain Goat; Moose vs. Narwhal (voting closed) WINNERS: Elephant, Narwhal.

Day 9 – 3/31: Sea Turtle vs. Red Knot; Butterfly vs. Peregrine Falcon (voting closed) WINNERS: Sea Turtle, Peregrine Falcon.

Day 10 – 4/1: Polar Bear vs. Wolverine; Sea Horse vs. Sea Otter (voting closed) WINNERS: Polar Bear, Sea Otter.

Day 11 – 4/3: Elephant vs. Narwhal; Sea Turtle vs. Peregrine Falcon (voting closed) WINNERS: Elephant, Peregrine Falcon.

Day 12 – 4/6: THE FINAL FOUR: Polar Bear vs. Sea Otter; Elephant vs. Peregrine Falcon. (voting NOW OPEN)

Day 13 – 4/7: THE CHAMPIONSHIP: TBD

PAST ROUNDS:

Round 11: Elite Eight, part 2

Round 10: Elite Eight, part 1

Round 9: Sweet Sixteen, part 4

Round 8: Sweet Sixteen, part 3

Round 7: Sweet Sixteen, part 2

Round 6: Sweet Sixteen, part 1

Round 5: Shells and Wings

Round 4: Horns and Hooves

Round 3: Fins and Flippers

Round 2: Paws and Claws, part 2

Round 1: Paws and Claws, part 1

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