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cave

(Encyclopedia)cave, a cavity in the earth's surface usually large enough for a person to enter. Caves may be formed by the chemical and mechanical action of a stream upon soluble or soft rock, of rainwater seeping ...

raccoon

(Encyclopedia)raccoon, nocturnal New World mammal of the genus Procyon. The common raccoon of North America, Procyon lotor, also called coon, is found from S Canada to South America, except in parts of the Rocky Mt...

Shetland Islands

(Encyclopedia)Shetland Islands zĕtˈ– [key], the archipelago is 70 mi (110 km) long and consists of some 100 islands, of which fewer than one fourth are inhabited. Mainland, Yell, Unst, Fetlar, Whalsey, and Bres...

Dead Sea

(Encyclopedia)Dead Sea, salt lake, c.390 sq mi (1,010 sq km), extending c.45 mi (70 km) in the Jordan trough of the Great Rift Valley between the Ghor on the north and Wadi Arabah on the south, on the border betwee...

mongoose

(Encyclopedia)mongoose, name for a large number of small, carnivorous, terrestrial Old World mammals of the civet family. They are found in S Asia and in Africa, with one species extending into S Spain. Mongooses a...

Campania

(Encyclopedia)Campania kämpäˈnyä [key], region, 5,249 sq mi (13,595 sq km), central Italy, extending from ...

Early, Jubal Anderson

(Encyclopedia)Early, Jubal Anderson, 1816–94, Confederate general, b. Franklin co., Va., grad. West Point, 1837. After fighting against the Seminole in Florida he resigned from the army (1838), studied law, and p...

nest

(Encyclopedia)nest, structure for the reception and incubation of the eggs of birds, reptiles, insects, and some fish or for the parturition of mammals, and also for the care of the young during their period of hel...

Samoa, island chain, SW Pacific Ocean

(Encyclopedia)Samoa, chain of volcanic islands in the South Pacific, comprising the independent nation of Samoa (formerly Western Samoa), and E of long. 171° W, the islands of American Samoa, under U.S. control. T...

Shandong

(Encyclopedia)Shandong or Shantung both: shän-do͝ong [key] [east of the (Taishan) mountains], province (2010 pop. 95,793,065), c.59,000 sq mi (152,850 sq km), NE China. Jinan is the capital. The eastern half of t...