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bowfin

(Encyclopedia)bowfin, primitive freshwater fish found in the Mississippi basin, the Great Lakes, and E to Vermont. The bowfin has a light covering of rounded, overlapping scales, a large mouth, and sharp teeth. Its...

Sudd

(Encyclopedia)Sudd so͝od [key], swampy region, c.200 mi (320 km) long, and c.150 mi (240 km) wide, central South Sudan, E central Africa. It is fed by the Bahr el Jebel, the Bahr el Ghazal, and the Bahr el Arab, h...

Vaal

(Encyclopedia)Vaal fäl [key], river, c.750 mi (1,210 km) long, rising in Mpumalanga, NE South Africa, and flowing SW to the Orange River. It forms most of the northern border of the Free State. The river's flow is...

Provo, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Provo, river, c.70 mi (110 km) long, rising in the Uinta Mts., NE Utah, and flowing SW past Provo to Utah Lake. It was early used for irrigation, but after Utah Lake was badly depleted in the 1930s, t...

chevrotain

(Encyclopedia)chevrotain shĕvˈrətānˌ [key], name for several species of small, ruminant mammals of Africa and SE Asia. Although they are also called mouse-deer, chevrotains are not closely related to true deer...

iceberg

(Encyclopedia)iceberg, mass of ice that has become detached, or calved, from the edge of an ice sheet or glacier and is floating on the ocean. Because ice is slightly less dense than water about one ninth of the to...

snapping turtle

(Encyclopedia)snapping turtle, large, aggressive New World freshwater turtle. The two snapping turtle species are the sole members of the family Chelydridae. Snapping turtles prefer quiet, muddy water. They spend m...

Reclamation, United States Bureau of

(Encyclopedia)Reclamation, United States Bureau of, agency set up in the Dept. of the Interior under the Reclamation Act of 1902. It is charged with promoting regional economies by developing water and related land...

rammed earth

(Encyclopedia)rammed earth, material consisting chiefly of soil of sufficiently stiff consistency that has been placed in forms and pounded down. It has been used for buildings and walls since ancient times and was...

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