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Lapland

(Encyclopedia)Lapland lăpˈlăndˌ [key], Finn. Lappi, Nor. Lapland, Swed. Lappland, vast region of N Europe, largely within the Arctic Circle. It includes the Norwegian provinces of Finnmark and Troms and part of...

crocodile

(Encyclopedia)crocodile, large, carnivorous reptile of the order Crocodilia, found in tropical and subtropical regions. Crocodiles live in swamps or on river banks and catch their prey in the water. They have flatt...

arum

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Jack-in-the-pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum, a member of the arum family arum, common name for the Araceae, a plant family mainly composed of species of herbaceous terrestrial and epiphytic plants...

respiration

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Respiratory system respiration, process by which an organism exchanges gases with its environment. The term now refers to the overall process by which oxygen is abstracted from air and is tran...

swine

(Encyclopedia)swine, name for any of the cloven-hoofed mammals of the family Suidae, native to the Old World. A swine has a rather long, mobile snout, a heavy, relatively short-legged body, a thick, bristly hide, a...

San Diego

(Encyclopedia)San Diego săn dēāˈgō [key], city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Vall...

snake, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)snake, common name for an elongated, limbless reptile of the order Squamata, which also includes the xlizards. Most snakes live on the ground, but some are burrowers, arboreal, or aquatic; one group i...

ass

(Encyclopedia)ass, hoofed, herbivorous mammal of the genus Equus, closely related to the horse. It is distinguished from the horse by its small size, large head, long ears, and small hooves. There are three living ...

birth

(Encyclopedia)birth or labor, delivery of the fetus by the viviparous mammal. Birth is also known as parturition. Human birth normally occurs about 280 days after onset of the last menstrual period before conceptio...

crustacean

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Internal anatomy of a female crayfish, representative of the class Crustacea crustacean krŭstāˈshən [key], primarily aquatic arthropod of the subphylum Crustacea. Most of the 44,000 crusta...

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