Elephants are large mammals that are found in Africa and Asia. As their habitats suggest, they are known by the areas they live in.
Their large ear flaps help dissipate heat through the capillaries that carry the heated blood away from the animal’s body and out into the air.
African Elephant
Asian Elephant
Donkeys (asses) are domesticated members of the horse family.
Male donkeys are called “jacks” and are sometimes bred with horses to create mules. Females are “jennys” and the young are “foals”.
Donkeys are often kept in fields with sheep to protect the sheep from predators such as wolves or coyotes.
Despite having a reputation of being stubborn, they can be willing and companionable partners.
Chipmunks are members of the Sciuridae family. These small, striped rodents are primarily found in North America .
They primarily eat nuts, seeds and fruit and other plant matter. Like their larger squirrel cousins, they have pouches on the insides of their cheeks so they can carry multiple items back to their larder in one trip.
Chipmunks can be coaxed to take food from humans and can be kept in captivity. In the wild, their life span is about three years but in captivity, they can live up to nine years.
Badgers are short-legged, nocturnal omnivores that belong to the same family as otters, polecats, weasels and wolverines.
Some of the Eurasian badgers (like the one pictured below) can tip the scales at 40 pounds!
Badgers live in burrows called setts and many have been culled in Europe and the United Kingdom to prevent the spread of rabies and bovine TB.
They are fierce and will go to great extents to protect themselves and their young but can be tamed as kept as pets.
Aardvarks are native to Africa. They’re a medium-sized, nocturnal mammal with a long pig-like snout, which they use to sniff out food. Their diet consists of ants and termites, dug out of their hills using their sharp claws and powerful legs. Their digging ability is also used to create burrows to live in and raise their offspring.
Once again, I’m taking part in the #AtoZChallenge. Last year my subject matter was random, whatever struck my fancy for each letter of the alphabet.
This year, I’ve decided to do a theme for the month – Animals!
Here is the schedule for 2015…
Follow me throughout April and see what I’ve chosen for my Animal of the Day.
There were a number of things that influenced and inspired me to write my debut novel, A Shadow in the Past. Here are some of them.
Start with one spooky, derelict mansion…
Add one ancient stone circle…
Sprinkle in a narrow country lane…
Lined with ghostly trees…
Add a generous dollop of old graveyard…
One full-sized headstone…
Spice it up with a village hall…
One lunatic asylum…
One small country church…
And lastly a smidgeon of Aberdeen…
Mix well.
Add characters…
Let all the ingredients simmer then write, write some more, re-write, re-write some more.
When finished it looks like this…
Blurb:
Nineteen-year-old Sarah Shand finds herself thrust back into the past. There she struggles to keep her real identity from a society that finds her comments and ideas strange and her speech and actions forward, unlike Victorian women. When Sarah verbally confronts confining social practices, including arranged marriages, powerful enemies commit her to a lunatic asylum. After falling in love with the handsome Laird of Weetshill, Robert Robertson, she must decide whether to find her way back to her own time or to remain in the past with him.
Where to buy:
4RV Publishing: http://www.4rvpublishingcatalog.com/robertson-king.php
ChaptersIndigo: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/A-Shadow-In-The-Past-Melanie-Robertson-king/9780983801887-item.html?ikwid=a+shadow+in+the+past&ikwsec=Home
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-shadow-in-the-past-melanie-robertson-king/1112348992?ean=9780983801887
A Shadow in the Past is also available at amazon for the Kindle (using the same links), Barnes & Noble for the nook, Kobobooks, and the iBookstore.
Blurb:
For twenty-two years Beverly taught children in grades two through five how to read and write. They taught her patience. Now, she teaches a women’s Sunday school class at her church. To relax she plays the piano. Her cats don’t appreciate good music and run and hide when she tickles the ivories.
Only one woman could hurt ultra-alpha bad boy Jake Braden.
Only one woman can heal him.
Fiona Steele has arrived…
Fiona Steele has a great career, strong friendships, and a loving family. To an outsider, her life appears happy and fulfilling. But the one thing that’s missing is true love, and the only man Fiona wants is the one she can’t have, sinfully handsome and seductively intense Jake Braden—the man whose heart she broke, which she has regretted ever since.
As an LA stuntman, Jake Braden’s at the top of his game. He’s hired for all the best movies, hooks up with the hottest women, and lives an unencumbered lifestyle where his needs come first—and where he doesn’t have to examine his life too closely. Except when he visits his family in his close-knit hometown of Trusty, Colorado, where he spends his time avoiding Fiona—the only woman who knows who he really is.
When Fiona’s best friend is hired to act in Jake’s movie, Fiona jumps at the chance to try to win him back. There’s no denying the white-hot attraction burning between them. With every encounter, Fiona hopes Jake can’t resist falling back into the love they once shared. But her well-orchestrated rendezvous doesn’t go over well with the brooding heartthrob. Living in the fast lane is perfect for a guy who’s buried his emotions so damn deep he’s not sure he can remember how to feel—and he’s not sure he ever wants to.
BUY LINKS
Amazon
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About Melissa Foster
Melissa Foster is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling and award-winning author. She writes contemporary romance, new adult, contemporary women’s fiction, suspense, and historical fiction with emotionally compelling characters that stay with you long after you turn the last page. Her books have been recommended by USA Today’s book blog, Hagerstown Magazine, The Patriot, and several other print venues. She is the founder of the World Literary Café and Fostering Success. When she’s not writing, Melissa helps authors navigate the publishing industry through her author training programs on Fostering Success. Melissa has been published in Calgary’s Child Magazine, the Huffington Post, and Women Business Owners magazine.
Melissa hosts an annual Aspiring Authors contest for children and has painted and donated several murals to The Hospital for Sick Children in Washington, DC. Melissa lives in Maryland with her family.
Visit Melissa on social media. Melissa enjoys discussing her books with book clubs and reader groups, and welcomes an invitation to your event.
Authors Links:
Sign up for Melissa’s newsletter to stay up to date with releases and giveaways
http://www.melissafoster.com/newsletter/
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GIVEAWAY!
(3ecopies of the previous book in the series – Dreaming of Love)
In 1869, the Earth experiences the close pass of a new comet. In its wake, thousands of Terra’s inhabitants find themselves strangely changed. Among humanity, many find that any talent they may naturally possess has been elevated to an astounding degree. Likewise, a number of animals become self-aware and intelligent. A young “comet prodigy” from humble beginnings, Ichabod Temperance, has become one of the world’s foremost inventors in this age of prolific genius. Traveling to England to deliver his latest brilliant device to a famous explorer, the young tinker is unexpectedly struck by the fearsome hand of fate. Meanwhile, a lovely young aristocrat, Miss Persephone Plumtartt, survives an experimental accident only to find herself imbued with a power she can neither understand nor control, while dark forces and malevolent creatures pursue her, leaving a gruesome wake of death.
Yet, worse is to come. The naïve young inventor and the lovely intellectual find themselves fighting not only to save their own lives, while concurrently coming to terms with their own budding romance, but to prevent the destruction of all life on Earth in this humorously told and poignant steampunk adventure!
This is the first book in the series, ‘The Adventures of Ichabod Temperance‘. There are six books. Though in a series, each book is a stand-alone adventure.
Buy Links
http://www.amazon.com/Ichabod-Temperance/e/B00J71862M/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
About the author
Ichabod Temperance is a silly little fellow living in picturesque Irondale Alabama, USA, with his lovely, gracious and kind muse, Miss Persephone Plumtartt and their furry pack family.
https://www.facebook.com/ichabod.temperance
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7077425.Ichabod_Temperance
GIVEAWAY
The prize is for 3 ecopies of the book.