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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...

taiga

(Encyclopedia)taiga tīˈgə [key], northern coniferous-forest belt of Eurasia, bordered on the north by the treeless tundra and on the south by the steppe. This vast belt, comprising about one third of the forest ...

takin

(Encyclopedia)takin təkēnˈ [key], hoofed mammal, Budorcas toxicolor, found in Asia, most closely related to the musk ox. The takin is oxlike in build and may reach a shoulder height of 31⁄2 ft (107 cm). It has...

Tegucigalpa

(Encyclopedia)Tegucigalpa tāgo͞osēgälˈpä [key], city (1997 est. pop. 897,000), capital and largest city of Honduras, in a small valley in the mountains of S central Honduras. The city has diverse light indust...

Fujian

(Encyclopedia)Fujian fo͞oˈkēĕnˈ [key], province, c.48,000 sq mi (124,352 sq km), SE China, on Taiwan S...

Sierra Madre, mountain system, Mexico

(Encyclopedia)Sierra Madre dĕl so͝orˈ [key] is a tumbled, broken mass of uptilted mountains that touch the Pacific coast but form into no clearly defined range. It spreads over S Mexico between the volcanic belt...

Dasht-e Kavir

(Encyclopedia)Dasht-e Kavir däsht-ēkävērˈ [key], great salt desert, c.500 mi (800 km) long and c.200 mi (320 km) wide, SE of the Elburz Mts., N central Iran. It is a huge basin of interior drainage named after...

Crook, George

(Encyclopedia)Crook, George, 1828–90, U.S. general, b. near Dayton, Ohio, grad. West Point, 1852. During the Civil War, Crook commanded a regiment of Ohio volunteers as colonel. After the war he operated so succe...

Cybele

(Encyclopedia)Cybele sĭbˈəlē [key], in ancient Asian religion, the Great Mother Goddess. The chief centers of her early worship were Phrygia and Lydia. In the 5th cent. b.c. her cult was introduced into Greece,...

Green Mountain Boys

(Encyclopedia)Green Mountain Boys, popular name of armed bands formed (c.1770) under the auspices of Ethan Allen in the Green Mountains of what is today Vermont. Their purpose was to prevent the New Hampshire Grant...