Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

344 results found

prairie dog

(Encyclopedia)prairie dog, short-tailed, ground-living rodent, genus Cynomys, of the squirrel family, closely related to the ground squirrels, chipmunks, and marmots. There are several species, found in the W Unite...

Thorpe, Jim

(Encyclopedia)Thorpe, Jim (James Francis Thorpe), 1888–1953, American athlete, b. near Prague, Okla. Thorpe was probably the greatest all-round male athlete the United States has ever produced. His mother, a Sac,...

Wrangel Island

(Encyclopedia)Wrangel Island or Wrangell Island răngˈgəl [key], Rus. Ostrov Vrangelya, island, 1,740 sq mi (4,507 sq km), in the Arctic Ocean, between the East Siberian Sea and the Chukchi Sea, off NE Russia. It...

San Juan, city, Puerto Rico

(Encyclopedia)San Juan, city (1990 pop. 437,745), capital, largest city, chief port, and commercial and cultural center of Puerto Rico, NE Puerto Rico. Coffee, tobacco, sugar, and fruit are exported from the busy p...

spruce

(Encyclopedia)spruce, any plant of the genus Picea, evergreen trees or shrubs of the family Pinaceae (pine family) widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere. The needles are angular in cross section, rather tha...

ehrlichiosis

(Encyclopedia)ehrlichiosis ârlĭkēōˈsĭs [key], any of several diseases caused by rickettsia of the genera Ehrlichia and Anaplasma. Ehrlichiosis is transmitted by ticks. Both human forms tend to develop about n...

communicable diseases

(Encyclopedia)communicable diseases, illnesses caused by microorganisms and transmitted from an infected person or animal to another person or animal. Some diseases are passed on by direct or indirect contact with ...

chiton

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A. Dorsal view of a chiton, representative mollusk of the class Amphineura B. Internal anatomy of a chiton chiton kīˈtən [key], common name for rock-clinging marine mollusks of the class Po...

goat

(Encyclopedia)goat, ruminant mammal with hollow horns and coarse hair belonging to the genus Capra of the cattle family and closely related to the sheep. True wild goats, all of Old World origin, include the Persia...

American Fur Company

(Encyclopedia)American Fur Company, chartered by John Jacob Astor (1763–1848) in 1808 to compete with the great fur-trading companies in Canada—the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company. Astor's most ...