California ground squirrels and rock squirrels chew on discarded rattlesnake skin, then smear it on their fur. The result is that they smell like rattlesnake instead of squirrels, which may protect them from snake attack. The journal Animal Behavior published a new study from a team led by Barbara Clucas.

Clucas, a graduate student in animal behavior at the University of California, Davis, said she first noted this behavior in 2002.

She saw rock squirrels at Caballo Lake State Park in New Mexico licking themselves to apply chewed snake skin to their flanks, tails, and rear ends, which gave them the pungent, musky scent of a rattlesnake.

In 2003 she saw California ground squirrels at Lake Solano County Park in California doing the same thing.

Link

Santa Claus originated far away from Japan, and sometimes the details get lost in translation. Or is it just creative liscence? Inventor’s Spot presents the Top Ten Strange Santas from Japan, including versions from monster movies, martial arts, anime, and of course, Hello Kitty! Link -via the Presurfer

More on Christmas in Japan.

After a 95-year ban, absinthe is legal again in the United States. But there are a lot of myths surrounding the drink, such as its madness-inducing properties. Absinthe was a favorite among 19th century French artists, who were sometimes mad already. It is not particularly addicting, and does not make you hallucinate any more than other liquors. Salon magazine debunks these and other myths in the article Everything you know about Absinthe is Wrong. Link

Carl Zimmer’s collection of science tattoo photos (reported previously on Neatorama) is growing. There are now 119 submitted tattoos! This eight inch forearm ruler from Mikey is so handy, he uses it every day. Link

The YouTube page says, “Welcome to Official YouTube Channel for the British Monarchy.” Queen Elizabeth of England has just launched her official YouTube channel. It already contains historical film footage and broadcasts, and the first new video will be the palace’s Christmas Day greeting.

Announcing the launch of the channel, a spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace said the Queen "always keeps abreast with new ways of communicating with people".

She added: "She has always been aware of reaching more people and adapting the communication to suit.

"This will make the Christmas message more accessible to younger people and those in other countries."

Link to story. http://www.youtube.com/theroyalchannel to YouTube channel. -via Metafilter

Super secure doors, artistic doors, secret doors, deputydog has a rundown of some of the most interesting. These lifelike faces grace the door to St. Nicholas’ Cathedral in Slovenia. http://deputy-dog.com/2007/12/17/9-intriguing-doors/

(image credit: Mr. Jez)

	I received 64 credits on The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz How much of a Sci-Fi geek are you?
Guess the Sci-Fi Movie Sounds here

Can you identify a science fiction movie from a short sound clip? Hw about fourteen of them? Take the quiz and find out! My results said, “You're a major sci-fi geek! Do you speak Klingon?” http://www.shegoddess.com/q/sf/index.aspx -via I-Am-Bored

He wanted to make a personal gift for a friend who is a big Dr. Who fan. So he took an old Dalek toy, a teddy bear, and a musical hamster, and constructed the funniest version of Davros, {wiki} creator of the evil Daleks ever. For our amusement, he has posted the building process and a video of the finished product. Link -via b3ta

Handbell Hero challenges you to play holiday songs on your heyboard with your left hand. Since I’ve never played Guitar Hero, this reminds me of Dance Dance Revolution. If you play well, you get smiling faces. If you don’t, you get frowns, criticism, and your snowman keels over. Hint: start with Jingle Bells, it’s the easiest. Link -via Metafilter

Flickr user Marcello Poletti posted a set of stills from Star Trek (the original series) featuring the beautiful women who appeared in the show. There are 67 photos so far. He says the set will be complete soon. http://www.flickr.com/photos/poletti/sets/72157602965392887 -via Dump Trumpet

The ABC World News Webcast has the report from Neatorama on the Top 5 Viral Videos of 2007. These are the videos that you helped select. The final 5 includes Leave Britney Alone! at the request of ABC. The video was never posted at Neatorama, but it was one of the year’s biggest.

Link to the Top Viral Videos feature.

Link to the entire webcast (you can scroll down and select the video segment alone).

Pul the virtual lever and generate a random but festive holiday message. My first one said “May your New Year be relaxing and filled with turducken.” Then you can send your greeting to friends via email. For each message sent, a donation is made to Rotary First Harvest, an organization that connects farmers and food banks. Link -via the Presurfer

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories has a tutorial on building your own little walking robot out of a toothbrush and a pager motor. The result is cute and will impress the kids. You can build several and make them race -if you can get them all going in a straight line! Link (with video)

Here’s a delightful collection of vintage Soviet Christmas cards celebrating Russia’s space program.

See as Santa Ded Moroz rides a space rocket Sputnik while small boys in the space suites send a New Year greetings to all people of the Earth.
In a picture at the left Santa steers three Soviet space vehicles at once - Vostok, Voshod, Souyz. All design very much reminds Pod Racers from the Star Wars. May be he goes to Tatooine? ;-)

Ded Moroz is the Russian name for Santa. There are four pages of aerospace cards, and other vintage cards can be accessed through the postcard index at the bottom of the page. Link -via Cynical-C

A Baobab tree in Limpopo, South Africa is so big that it’s been made into a bar! The tree has a 155-foot circumference and is hollow. The bar can seat 15 people comfortably, and once held 54 people (although not comfortably). Baobabs begin to hollow out at about a thousand years of age; this tree is estimated to be 6,000 years old. When owners Doug and Heather van Heerden set up the pub in the late eighties, they found artifacts indicating that Bushmen and Dutch pioneers had been inside, and had possibly lived in the tree. Link -via Arbroath