The first round of Gary and Shannon's Baby Animal Bracket is complete! The competitors waged a fierce battle for your love in the first round and only the cutest survived to make it into Round 2.
In the meantime, here are the winners from the Beaks N' Wings and Wildcard Divisions! Vote for round 2 here!
Round 1 Winners: Beaks N' Wings Division
- Baby Platypus vs Baby Bat: (62-38) - The Platypus came to play this year, as evidenced by their strong performance in round 1. The Baby Bat didn't stand a chance against the fuzzy little guy from down under.
- Baby Snow Owl vs Baby Hummingbird: (84-16) - The Snow Owl was another solid performer in our Beaks N' Wings Division. While the Hummingbird was quick on the court and an initial favorite for many fans, the Snow Owl just outperformed the Hummingbird in every way.
- Baby Penguin vs Baby Red Tailed Hawk: (83-17) - The Penguin vs Red Tailed Hawk was a match many were looking at as a fair fight, but as you can see from the score, it was anything but that! The Penguin ran away with the votes, leaving the Red Tailed Hawk in the dust.
- Baby Frogmouth Chick vs Baby Crane Chick: (38-62) - A surprise upset from the Crane Chick. Reps for the Frogmouth Chick had been bragging about the strong numbers they saw in the preseason and many experts agreed. However, once the pressure was on, the Frogmouth Chick collapsed and the Crane Chick squeaked by with an impressive victory!
Round 1 Winners: Wildcard Division
- Baby Blobfish vs Baby Naked Mole Rat: (68-32) - The Blobfish is always an underrated competitor, but every year, it continues to impress. The Naked Mole Rat had to go home and find another pair of shorts after the Blobfish took him to school.
- Baby Chinese Crested Water Dog vs Baby Tapir: (6-94) - Blowout doesn't even begin to describe this match up. Fresh off another loss at the Westminster Dog Show, the Chinese Crested Water Dog just couldn't find any momentum with voters. Instead the Tapir ran away with the game - a surprise to the many people's whose brackets were busted with this loss.
- Baby Tamandua vs Baby Axolotl: (70-30) - A newcomer this year to the Baby Animal Bracket, the Tamandua (or Lesser Anteater), performed surprisingly well against another competitor who made it into the final four last year. Unfortunately, the magic just wasn't with the Axolotl this year, and we'll instead be seeing the Tamandua move on to the next round.
- Baby Walrus vs Baby Stingray: (64-36) - Finally, one last great match-up saw the Walrus come out on top over the Stingray. The Walrus has always been a strong competitor in the Baby Animal Bracket, so it's exciting to see just how far this player can go!
Voting for Round 2 of the Baby Animal Bracket can be found here. Voting will be open through next Tuesday morning!
(Highlight the box to see the 'Continue Gallery' to move onto the other photos).
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Special thanks to the Los Angeles Zoo for their help providing some of the photos.
Photos: L.A. Zoo, Getty Images, Unsplash, Wikimedia