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Great Plains

(Encyclopedia)Great Plains, extensive grassland region on the continental slope of central North America. They extend from the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba south through W central Unite...

goatsucker

(Encyclopedia)goatsucker, common name for nocturnal or crepuscular birds of the order Caprimulgiformes, which includes the frogmouth, the oilbird, potoos, and nightjars. Goatsuckers are medium in size and are found...

Paleocene epoch

(Encyclopedia)Paleocene epoch pāˈlēəsēnˌ [key], first epoch of the Tertiary period in the Cenozoic era of geologic time (see geologic timescale) between 60 to 66 million years ago. In W North America, the upl...

wapiti

(Encyclopedia)wapiti wŏpˈĭtē [key], large North American deer, Cervus canadensis, closely related to the Old World red deer. It is commonly called elk in America although the name elk is used in Europe to refer...

marten

(Encyclopedia)marten, name for carnivorous, largely arboreal mammals (genus Martes) of the weasel family, widely distributed in North America, Europe, and central Asia. Martens are larger, heavier-bodied animals th...

Alegría, Claribel

(Encyclopedia)Alegría, Claribel, 1924–2018, Nicaraguan-Salvadoran poet, b. Nicaragua as Clara Isabel Alegría Vides, grad. George Washington Univ. (B.A., 1948). Her family went into exile in El Salvador when she...

Chibcha

(Encyclopedia)Chibcha chĭbˈchə [key], indigenous people of the eastern cordillera of the Andes of Colombia. Although trade with neighboring tribes was common, the Chibcha seem to have evolved their culture in co...

giant African land snail

(Encyclopedia)giant African land snail, any of several species of large terrestrial snails of tropical Africa that have become agricultural pests in other regions of the world. The species include the giant African...

turkey , in zoology

(Encyclopedia)turkey, common name for a large game and poultry bird related to the grouse and the pheasant. Its name derives from its “turk-turk” call. Turkeys are indigenous to the New World; American fossils ...

quail

(Encyclopedia)quail, common name for a variety of small game birds related to the partridge, pheasant, and more distantly to the grouse. There are three subfamilies in the quail family: the New World quails; the Ol...