Preliminary bets for "Animal Wars"

As I explained some time ago, I have been planning a tournament of sorts for animals all over the world, currently living though some are dangerous close to kicking the bucket. Before we get started with Round One and I show you the brackets, please weigh in on which animal you think will ultimately win. Choose runners up if you wish. This is a totally free-form forum for people to express their gut instincts about which animals are the toppermost of the poppermost, and such speculation is fun and will not be "held against you in any way." So which animals do you think will win their final four regional bracket, advance to the finals, and ultimately prevail?

Ground rules are coming soon so you can see exactly how fights between geographically and even elementally different organisms can be arbitrated. Basically, each animals is considered to do battle within in its own home territory and environment, where it is strongest, whether this makes strict sense or not. Also, and quite importantly, animals are not scaled to provide a good match for its opponent. A fish of some sort may have the largest bite strength to body weight ratio in the animal kingdom, but that won't matter much if it's swallowed whole by a white pointer. So this is not quite a Pokemon fantasy, this is forced reality, a slight difference that allows real animals on Planet Earth to fight one another for that elusive golden crown.

Make your remarks, ask your questions, and soon we will list, define, and possibly even show you every creature selected to fill out the 64 slots. Than following shortly shortly aferwards will be Round One, the biggest bloodbath of them all in absolute turns, as the field abruptly drops from 64 to 32. Don't miss it!!! If you do I will find you!

If someone happens to list the correct overall winner in THIS post before the first battle begins, I will send that person something special and personalized. So put on your thinking caps and get to work!