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copperhead

(Encyclopedia)copperhead, poisonous snake, Ancistrodon contortrix, of the E United States. Like its close relative, the water moccasin, the copperhead is a member of the pit viper family and detects its warm-bloode...

chamois

(Encyclopedia)chamois shămˈē [key], hollow-horned, hoofed mammal, Rupicapra rupicapra, found in the mountains of Europe and the E Mediterranean. It is about the size of a large goat and is light brown with a bla...

Orvieto

(Encyclopedia)Orvieto ōrvyĕˈtō [key], city (1991 pop. 21,419), in Umbria, central Italy, on the Poglia River. Situated at the top of a rocky hill, it is a tourist and pilgrimage center. Orvieto is probably loca...

Fraser, Simon, Canadian explorer

(Encyclopedia)Fraser, Simon, 1776–1862, Canadian explorer and fur trader. Born in Bennington, Vt., he was taken to Canada as a child. He entered the service of the North West Company in 1792, and in 1801 he was m...

Jackson, Sheldon

(Encyclopedia)Jackson, Sheldon, 1834–1909, American missionary and educator, b. Montgomery co., N.Y., grad. Union College, 1855, and Princeton Theological Seminary, 1858. After a career as a Presbyterian missiona...

caribou, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)caribou, name in North America for the genus (Rangifer) of deer from which the Old World reindeer was originally domesticated. Caribou are found in arctic and subarctic regions. They are the only deer...

bighorn, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)bighorn or Rocky Mountain sheep, wild sheep, Ovis canadensis, of W North America, formerly plentiful in mountains from SW Canada to N Mexico. Indiscriminate hunting, disease, and scarcity of food enor...

Morelia

(Encyclopedia)Morelia mōrāˈlyä [key], city (1990 pop. 489,756), capital of Michoacán state, W Mexico. It is the commercial and processing center of an irrigated agricultural and cattle-raising area. Founded as...

chloramphenicol

(Encyclopedia)chloramphenicol klōrˌămfĕnˈəkŏlˌ [key], antibiotic effective against a wide range of gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria (see Gram's stain). It was originally isolated from a species of S...

Golan Heights

(Encyclopedia)Golan Heights, strategic upland region (2003 est. pop. 10,500), c.500 sq mi (1,250 sq km), SW Syria. It borders S Lebanon, NE Israel, and NW Jordan. It takes its name from the ancient city of Golan an...