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kudu

(Encyclopedia)kudu ko͞oˈdo͞o [key], either of two oshort-haired African antelopes of genus Tragelaphus. The greater kudu, T. strepsiceros, has a reddish brown coat with thin vertical white stripes on its sides. ...

Père David's deer

(Encyclopedia)Père David's deer pĕr dävēdzˈ [key], Asian deer, Elaphurus davidianus, known only in a semidomesticated state. Also known as milu and elaphure, it has a bulky, donkeylike body, reaching a shoulde...

beluga

(Encyclopedia)beluga bəlo͞oˈgə [key] or white whale, small, toothed northern whale, Delphinapterus leucas. The beluga may reach a length of 19 ft (5.8 m) and a weight of 4,400 lb (2,000 kg). It has a small, rou...

Black Hills

(Encyclopedia)Black Hills, rugged mountains, c.6,000 sq mi (15,540 sq km), enclosed by the Belle Fourche and Cheyenne rivers, SW S.Dak. and NE Wyo., and rising c.2,500 ft (760 m) above the surrounding Great Plains;...

Mabinogion

(Encyclopedia)Mabinogion măbĭnōˈgēən [key], title given to a collection of medieval Welsh stories. Scholars differ as to the meaning of the word mabinogion: some think it to be the plural of the Welsh word ma...

tin

(Encyclopedia)tin, metallic chemical element; symbol Sn [Lat. stannum]; at. no. 50; at. wt. 118.710; m.p. 231.9681℃; b.p. 2,270℃; sp. gr. 5.75 (gray), 7.3 (white); valence +2 or +4. Tin exhibits allotropy; abov...

Neptune, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Neptune, in astronomy, 8th planet from the sun at a mean distance of about 2.8 billion mi (4.5 billion km) with an orbit lying between those of Uranus and the dwarf planet Pluto; its period of revolut...

Ku Klux Klan

(Encyclopedia)Ku Klux Klan ko͞oˌ klŭks klăn [key], designation mainly given to two distinct secret societies that played a part in American history, although other less important groups have also used the name....

Dvina, river, Russia

(Encyclopedia)Dvina dvēnäˈ [key] or Northern Dvina, Rus. Severnaya Dvina, river, c.465 mi (750 km) long, N European Russia. It is formed near Veliki Ustyug by the union of the Sukhona and Yug rivers, flows N pas...

delftware

(Encyclopedia)delftware. The earliest delftware was a faience, a heavy, brown earthenware with opaque white glaze and polychrome decoration, made in the late 16th cent. Some of the earliest imitations of Chinese an...