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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...

angler

(Encyclopedia)angler or anglerfish, common name for a member of the order Lophiiformes, predacious fishes found worldwide; many are deep-sea dwellers. Anglers lure their prey with a long, wormlike appendage that ex...

avocet

(Encyclopedia)avocet ăvˈəsĕt [key], common name for a long-legged wading bird about 15 to 18 in. (37.5–45 cm) long, related to the snipe and belonging to the same family as the stilt. The American avocet or b...

Rocky Mountain goat

(Encyclopedia)Rocky Mountain goat, hoofed ruminant mammal, Oreamnos americanus, found in the high mountains of S Alaska, W Canada, and the extreme NW United States. Although it is not a true goat it belongs to the ...

pelican

(Encyclopedia)pelican, common name for a large, gregarious aquatic bird of warm regions, allied to the cormorants and gannets. Pelicans are heavy-bodied, long-necked birds with large, flat bills. They are graceful ...

Garda, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Garda, Lake gärˈdä [key], Ital. Lago di Garda or Benaco, largest lake of Italy, 143 sq mi (370 sq km), between Lombardy and Venetia, N Italy. It is c.32 mi (52 km) long, with a maximum width of c.1...

Kursky Zaliv

(Encyclopedia)Kursky Zaliv ko͝orˈlănd [key], lagoon, 56 mi (90 km) long and 28 mi (45 km) wide, in Lithuania and Russia. It is separated from the Baltic Sea by Courland Spit, a sandspit c.60 mi (100 km) long and...

Bridgeport

(Encyclopedia)Bridgeport, city (2020 pop. 148,654), Fairfield co., SW Conn., on Long Island Sound; inc. 1836. Long a chief industrial city in Connecticut, it makes el...

Block, Adriaen

(Encyclopedia)Block, Adriaen, fl. 1610–24, Dutch navigator. Eager to establish a fur trade with the Native Americans, Amsterdam merchants sent (1613) Block and another Dutch navigator to explore the region discov...

Slave

(Encyclopedia)Slave, river, c.310 mi (500 km) long, Northwest Territories, Canada. It comprises the middle sections of the Mackenzie River system. The river channels the waters of Lake Athabasca and the Peace River...