Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Spotted swine, breed that is predominantly black with many white spots. Except for its additional white coloring, it is much like the Poland China swine, which together with Gloucester Old Spot hogs f...

(Encyclopedia) Fan Si Pan fäN sē päN [key], peak, 10,312 ft (3,143 m) high, on the divide between the Red and Black rivers, NW Vietnam, near the Chinese border. It is the highest point in Vietnam. ...

(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...

(Encyclopedia) Penrose, Sir Roger, 1931–, British mathematical physicist, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1958. He taught and conducted research at a number of British and American colleges and universities before becoming a pro...

(Encyclopedia) Wheeler, John Archibald, 1911–2008, American physicist and educator, b. Jacksonville, Fla. Educated at Johns Hopkins (Ph.D., 1933), he joined the faculty at Princeton in 1938, and after 1976 was dir...

(Encyclopedia) Cardigan Welsh corgi, breed of short, long-bodied working dog believed to have been introduced into Wales from Central Europe c.1200 b.c. It stands about 12 in. (30.5 cm) high at the shoulder and weig...

(Encyclopedia) Waters, Ethel, 1896?–1977, African-American singer and actress, b. Chester, Pa. As a singer, she is noted for her sultry, sophisticated, and dramatic version of the blues, evinced in her interpretat...

(Encyclopedia) tanuki or raccoon dog, omnivorous mammal, Nyctereutes Procyonoides, of the dog family, native to the forests of E Asia. The tanuki is similar in appearance to a dog but has black, masklike facial mark...

(Encyclopedia) ladybird beetle or ladybug, member of a cosmopolitan beetle family with over 4,000 species, including 350 species in the United States. Ladybird beetles are mostly under 1⁄4 in. (6 mm) long and are ...

(Encyclopedia) panda, name for two unrelated nocturnal Asian mammals of the order Carnivora, red pandas, genus Ailurus, and the giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca. Red pandas, also known as lesser pandas and cat be...