28 January: Rattlesnake Round Up

Rattlesnake round up - 10 things you might not know about rattlesnakes.

1. There are about 36 species of rattlesnake. They are native to the Americas and are found in a variety of habitats from Canada to Argentina, although they are most common in the south west of the USA and northern Mexico.
2. They belong to two genera - Crotalus and Sistrusus. Both of the genus names derive from musical instruments - the first for the Greek word for a castanet and the latter from an ancient Egyptian musical instrument called a sistrum.
3. Just because a rattlesnake has had its head cut off doesn't mean it won't bite. The biting reflex often remains active after the snake is dead.
4. Rattlesnakes don't lay eggs. Their eggs hatch inside them so their babies are born fully formed. There can be as many as 25 of them in one litter.
5. Newborn rattlesnakes don't have rattles. It does have a specialised scale at the end of its tail called a pre-button. After it sheds its skin for the first time, the pre-button becomes a button, an hourglass shaped scale. In subsequent sheds, segments of keratin get added until it has a complete rattle. It is a myth, however, that you can tell a rattlesnake's age by the number of keratin segments it has.
6. There is one species of rattlesnake that doesn't have a rattle at all. It's the Santa Catalina rattlesnake which lives on a small island in the Gulf of California. Scientists think they lost their rattles because there aren't many predators or large animals on the island so they don't need the warning system.
7. A study in 2018 found that rattlesnakes help distribute seeds. When they eat a rodent with seeds stashed in its cheek pouches, the snake doesn't digest the seeds, but poops them out later in a new location.
8. Benjamin Franklin held that rattlesnakes embodied diplomacy, because they give a warning before they attack, and were also a symbol of vigilance, because they have no eyelids.
9. The largest rattlesnake is the eastern diamondback which can grow to 8 feet/2.4 metres in length, and the smallest is the ridge-nosed rattlesnake which is 30-60cm/1-2 feet long.
10. They don't eat very often. A young rattlesnake will eat once a week, while an adult can go two weeks between meals.

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Settling the Score

Another collection of short stories, even more murder and mayhem with carol singers, an orchestra out for revenge, a sinister magic stone and a haunted mansion.

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A Tale of Two Sisters

During a battle with supervillains, a horrific accident leaves the Warner family with no option but to believe their youngest daughter, Jessica, is dead. It doesn't occur to them that the bad guys could, or would, save her.

Jessica wakes up with no memory of who she is or how she came to be on a space station with two bionic legs, a bionic arm and a bionic eye. She is told her family abandoned her and is sent back to Earth with a mission - to kill them. While Jessica wants to kill her family, along with the twin boys who once rejected her, she knows what the Alliance of Supervillains are asking her to do is a suicide mission. She decides to get her revenge in her own way.

As Jessica puts the first part of her revenge plan in motion, she finds herself with an agonising decision to make. Before she can decide, the Alliance come for her, determined to make her do their bidding. This time, it's the Alliance who leave her, crippled and at the mercy of the Warner family, who have no idea who the Alliance's Black Rose really is.

Jessica finds herself having to re-think her decisions in light of what she now learns about her family, the Alliance, the twins, and herself. It would appear the Alliance have left her with an unwanted and permanent reminder of her time with them. Or have they?

Jessica's older sister, Jill, knows her destiny is to be a doctor and specialise in bionics and genetic variant medicine. She is also hopelessly in love with Christopher, Crown Prince of Galorvia. Can their romance survive the lies Christopher told her when they were both at school, an unplanned pregnancy and Sophie, the wannabe princess who comes between them?

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