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deer

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
ruminant mammal of the family Cervidae, found in most parts of the world except Australia. Antlers, solid bony outgrowths of the skull, develop in the males of most species and are shed and renewed annually. They are at first covered by “velvet,” a soft, hairy skin permeated by blood vessels. The stem of the antler is called the beam, and the branches are the tines. Antlers are used as weapons during breeding-season combats between bucks. In deer that lack antlers (the musk deer and Chinese river deer), long upper canines serve as weapons. Deer are polygamous. They eat a variety of herbaceous plants, lichens, mosses, and tree leaves and bark. The white-tailed deer that live in woodlands throughout the United States and in Central America and N South America was a source of food, buckskin, and other necessities for Native Americans and white settlers. Deer flesh, called venison, is still considered a delicacy. Slaughter through the years nearly exterminated the whitetail, but it is now…
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Full text Article Deer

From Animals: A Visual Encyclopedia Full text Article Mammals
Deer
With more than 40 species, deer can be found in most parts of the world. They areherbivorous and live in a range of habitats. Their most striking feature is theirantlers, which grow on nearly all adult males. Factfile True deer belong to the family Cervidae. The two other families ofdeer are…
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Full text Article Deer

From A Dictionary of Literary Symbols
Deer have appeared in literature primarily as the object of the hunt, whether literal or metaphorical. ( See Hunting ). “Deer” is the generic term, but many more specific terms arise in English literature: “hart” or “stag” is the mature male (especially of the red deer), “hind” is the mature female, …
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Full text Article DEER

From The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales
Six species of deer have roamed Wales since the end of the latest Ice Age, c. 11,500 years ago. Reindeer occurred on the post-glacial tundra while the giant Irish elk roamed the blanket bogs of western Europe until it became extinct about 10,000 years ago. The red deer inhabited the early forests…
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Full text Article deer

From Word Origins
In Old English, dēar meant ‘animal’ in general, as opposed to ‘human being’ (as its modern Germanic relatives, German tier , Dutch dier , and Swedish djur , still do). Apparently connected forms in some other Indo-European languages, such as Lithuanian dusti ‘gasp’ and Church Slavonic dychati…
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Full text Article deer

From Philip's Encyclopedia
Long-legged, hoofed, ruminant . There are 53 species in 17 genera distributed worldwide. In most species, the male (buck, hart or stag) bears antlers. Only in reindeer does the female (hind or doe) bear antlers. Deer often gather in herds. They are generally brown, with spotted young (fawns) and eat…
| 102 words
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Full text Article deer

From The Chambers Dictionary
( pl deer ) any animal of the Cervidae, a family of even-toed hoofed animals characterized by the possession of antlers by the males at least, incl red deer, reindeer, etc; any kind of animal (as in small deer ; obs ). [OE dēor ; Ger Tier , Du dier ; ON dyr ] n a chevrotain. ❑ deer'berry n the…
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Full text Article deer

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
ruminant mammal of the family Cervidae, found in most parts of the world except Australia. Antlers, solid bony outgrowths of the skull, develop in the males of most species and are shed and renewed annually. They are at first covered by “velvet,” a soft, hairy skin permeated by blood vessels. The…
| 359 words
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Full text Article deer

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Any of various ruminant, even-toed, hoofed mammals belonging to the family Cervidae. The male typically has a pair of antlers, shed and regrown each year. Most species of deer are forest-dwellers and are distributed throughout Eurasia and North America, but are absent from Australia and Africa south…
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Full text Article deer

From The American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language
Any of various hoofed ruminant mammals of the family Cervidae, characteristically having deciduous antlers borne chiefly by the males. The deer family includes the white-tailed deer, elk, moose, and caribou. [Middle English der, beast, from Old English dēor.] Word History: In Middle English texts…
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Full text Article deer

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Rival European red deer stags (Cervus elaphus)...
Any of the ruminants in the family Cervidae, which have two large and two small hooves on each foot and antlers on the males of most species and on the females of some species. Deer live mainly in forests but may be found in deserts, tundra, and swamps and on high mountainsides. They are native to…
| 188 words , 1 image
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