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species

(Encyclopedia)species, in biology, a category of classification, the original and still the basic unit in the demarcation of plant and animal types. The species marks the boundary between populations of organisms r...

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...

cape buffalo

(Encyclopedia)cape buffalo, species of short-haired African ungulate, or hoofed mammal, Syncerus caffer. The cape, or African, buffalo may reach 7 ft (2.1 m) in length, weigh more than 1,500 lb (670 kg), and reach ...

caribou, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)caribou, name in North America for the genus (Rangifer) of deer from which the Old World reindeer was originally domesticated. Caribou are found in arctic and subarctic regions. They are the only deer...

porcupine, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)porcupine, member of either of two rodent families, characterized by having some of its hairs modified as bristles, spines, or quills. The quills are loosely attached to the porcupines' skin and pull ...

butter

(Encyclopedia)butter, dairy product obtained by churning the fat from milk until it solidifies. In most areas the milk of cows is the basis, but elsewhere that of goats, sheep, and mares has been used. Butter was k...

monitor, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)monitor, any of various, mostly tropical lizards. A monitor lizard has a heavy body, long head and neck, long tail that comes to a whiplike end, and strong legs with sharp claws. Its slender, forked t...

moon worship

(Encyclopedia)moon worship. Although the moon has not had great prominence in the history of religion, the worship of it has been known since earliest recorded time—in the oldest literatures of Egypt, Babylonia, ...

longevity

(Encyclopedia)longevity lŏnjĕvˈĭtē [key], term denoting the length or duration of the life of an animal or plant, often used to indicate an unusually long life. The average human life-span of threescore and te...

Manche

(Encyclopedia)Manche mäNsh [key], department (1990 pop. 480,900), NW France, in Normandy, on the English Channel. Manche is coextensive with the Cotentin peninsula and extends S into the Norman woods. Saint-Lô (t...