March Mammal Madness returns to celebrate science, storytelling and libraries

On a chilly winter afternoon in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, Victoria Savo is painting a blank tournament bracket on the outside wall of a library. Savo is a library media specialist at Swiftwater Intermediate School, and is busy preparing for 750 students in grades four through six to compete in March Mammal Madness. 

“The kids came in September, asking, ‘Are we doing March Mammal Madness this year?’ I’m like, ‘Oh, don’t you worry, of course we’re doing March Mammal Madness,'” Savo said.

Not to be confused with NCAA college basketball March Madness, March Mammal Madness is an annual nature-based simulated competition that engages players, educators and learners nationwide with science and storytelling.

This year’s theme, which celebrates libraries, is the perfect opportunity to highlight how Arizona State University Library’s partnership with the MMM Library Guide, the go-to place for all things MMM, has evolved to meet the growing needs of the tournament.

“In 2016, my main goal for contributing to MMM was (to offer) a very typical library curated resource to provide recommendations for age-appropriate, reliable and free information sources for nonuniversity players and learners to help make decisions about their bracket,” said Anali Maughan Perry, head of ASU Library’s open science and scholarly communication division. 

In the decade since, the LibGuide has experienced major overhauls.

“As the tournament became more complex,” Perry said, “we realized the LibGuide could provide organizational structure that would make it easier for different communities to connect with what they were looking for.”

In 2025, the LibGuide received over 1.4 million views. It is ranked 15th in global popularity and ninth in the United States.

Savo’s students love MMM, and incorporating the tournament into their library classes gives them experiences they might not otherwise have in their regular classroom.

“The biggest impact is that they’re learning about a bunch of animals they’ve never encountered before,” Savo said. “Even though our students are so worldly in ways, and they consume a lot of media, they still don’t know as much as you would assume they would. Being able to show them all these animals, that there are different types of elephants, for example, they find it so interesting.”

Founded in 2013, MMM is free for anyone to play and all materials are available as open educational resources to utilize in different learning environments.

“March Mammal Madness emphasizes the mantra ‘If you’re learning, you’re winning,’ and libraries are one of the very best places to learn!” said Katie Hinde, associate professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change and the Center for Evolution and Medicine at Arizona State University. Hinde is the founder and editor-in-chief of MMM.

“Throughout my childhood, local public libraries and librarians were linchpins for my learning and imagination,” Hinde said. “Now, decades later, I get to celebrate libraries in March Mammal Madness and collaborate with librarians to create spark experiences for other generations of learners.”

Starting Feb. 19, the full bracket is available on the MMM LibGuide and features the 2026 divisions: Library Legends, Money Mammals, Extinction is Forever, and That’s So Metal. The Library Legends division includes everything from 200-year-old animal symbology to therapy dog programs at libraries.

Cultivating community and boosting information literacy

With this year’s theme celebrating libraries, it’s an opportunity to shine a light on different libraries and how they connect unique audiences with community, information and services — whether public, academic, special or school libraries.

Eileen Wholley and Jennifer Sidlow are media specialists at Oak Lawn Community High School in Oak Lawn, Illinois. MMM is spearheaded by zoology teacher Jen Skendzel, but the media center plays a key role in hosting MMM activities.

“Our media center is very much a central hub of the school. It’s a place that’s packed in the mornings and (hosts) clubs after school. MMM has energy to it, where students are exploring, talking, inquiring, challenging each other; so that’s really fun to have in this space,” Wholley said.

Around 500 students taking zoology, biology, AP biology and environmental science participate in competing, but hosting activities in the library generates excitement from many more students.

“We’re always blown away by the energy of the event. Every year, I get such a kick out of how our students are legitimately scouring the reports and making their decisions,” Wholley said.

In the media center, there is a large vinyl bracket and posters of animals that spark conversations, and this event supports the media center’s mission to cultivate a place where students can feel a sense of community, conduct research and explore different topics. 

“When the science department is picking where to have it, they could host this exact same thing in a gym,” Sidlow said. “But this is a space where, as soon as they come in, students know that they’re meant to collaborate in here, and they’re meant to talk, and they’re meant to share their ideas.”

MMM is adaptable and inclusive for players and learners of all ages, and is a great example for college students learning about science communication.

Dan Chibnall, a STEM librarian with Drake University in Des Moines, has been a MMM advocate for nearly a decade. Chibnall teaches instruction and courses in science communication and scientific research. His Communicating Science course is open to any discipline and includes a mix of science, humanities, journalism and communication majors.

“At the heart of my course is how we can make complex technical science accessible and interesting to a much wider set of people,” Chibnall said. “How do we bring science into people’s neighborhoods and doorsteps so they understand how climate change affects them, how local ecosystems are affected, and what invasive species do?”

MMM is a real-world example that last year alone reached over 10,000 educators and 1 million learners. For Chibnall and other educators like him, MMM is an opportunity to connect their students with different ways of communicating science and help them understand how to search for quality sources.

Chibnall emphasizes this is where librarians can come in to help — no matter if you’re in grade school, college or a lifelong learner.

“Librarians are more important than ever, because now that people have so much access to information, they need our help in being able to navigate all this stuff,” Chibnall said. “We help people sift through information versus misinformation.

“In a world flooded with information, we can be the people standing on the banks of the river, reaching out a hand to say, ‘Do you need a little help?’”

Back in Pennsylvania, as Savo prepares MMM materials, seeing how students talk and debate about the animals in the bracket is the most rewarding experience.

“Especially with my sixth graders who are now into their third year of doing March Mammal Madness, their ability to sit and talk to each other is so much better than it was when they were in fourth grade,” Savo said. “I think that’s the best part of it all, is seeing them be able to talk like people, sit and discuss and compromise and debate.”