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chinchilla

(Encyclopedia)chinchilla chĭnchĭlˈə [key], small burrowing rodent of South America. It lives in colonies at high altitudes (up to 15,000 ft/4,270 m) in the Andes of Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. One of the costlies...

Church, Frederick Edwin

(Encyclopedia)Church, Frederick Edwin, 1826–1900, American landscape painter of the Hudson River school, b. Hartford, Conn., studied with Thomas Cole at Catskill, N.Y. He traveled and painted in North and South A...

Iquitos

(Encyclopedia)Iquitos ēkēˈtōs [key], city, capital of Loreto dept., NE Peru, on the Amazon River, c.2,3...

Biobío

(Encyclopedia)Biobío bēˈō– [key], river, c.240 mi (390 km) long, rising in the Andes of central Chile and flowing NW to the Pacific Ocean near Concepción. It forms a natural divide between middle and souther...

altiplano

(Encyclopedia)altiplano ălˌtĭpläˈnō [key], high plateau (alt. c.12,000 ft/3,660 m) in the Andes Mts., c.65,000 sq mi (168,350 sq km), W Bolivia, extending into S Peru. The altiplano is a sediment-filled depre...

Apurímac

(Encyclopedia)Apurímac apo͞orēˈmäk [key], river, c.430 mi (690 km) long, rising in the Andes, S Peru. It flows generally northwest in a narrow valley. After joining the Mantaro River, the Apurímac becomes the...

Putumayo

(Encyclopedia)Putumayo ēsäˈ [key], river, c.1,000 mi (1,600 km) long, rising in the Andes, S Colombia, and flowing SE to the Amazon in NW Brazil. Mostly navigable, it marks part of Colombia's boundary with Ecuad...

Pachacamac

(Encyclopedia)Pachacamac päˌchäkämäkˈ [key], ruins of a walled Native American settlement, Peru, about 25 mi (40 km) SE of Lima in the Lurin Valley. This site, which contains a number of pyramids, was conside...

dipper

(Encyclopedia)dipper, common name for the only aquatic member of the order Perciformes (perching birds) found near cold mountain streams. With their short, stubby wings and tails and their thick brownish plumage, d...

alder

(Encyclopedia)alder ôlˈdər [key], name for deciduous trees and shrubs of the genus Alnus of the family Betulaceae (birch family), widely distributed, especially in mountainous and moist areas of the north temper...