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CHIRU

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 247 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CHIRU , a graceful Tibetan See also:

antelope (Pantholops Hodgsoni), of which the bucks are armed with See also:long, slender and heavily-ridged horns of an altogether See also:peculiar type, while the does are hornless. Possibly this handsome antelope may be the See also:original of the mythical See also:unicorn, a single See also:buck when seen in See also:profile looking exactly as if it had but one long straight See also:horn. Although far from uncommon, chiru are very wary, and consequently difficult to approach. They are generally found in small parties, although occasionally in herds. They inhabit the desolate See also:plateau of See also:Tibet, at elevations of between 13,000 and r8,000 ft., and, like all Tibetan animals, have a See also:firm thick coat; formed in this instance of See also:close woolly See also:hair of a See also:grey fawn-See also:colour. The most peculiar feature about the chiru is, however, its swollen, puffy See also:nose, which is probably connected with breathing a highly rarefied See also:atmosphere. A second antelope inhabiting the same See also:country as the chiru is the See also:goa (Gazella picticaudata), a member of the gazelle See also:group characterized by the peculiar See also:form of the horns of the bucks and certain features of coloration, whereby it is markedly distinguished from all its kindred See also:save one or two other central Asian See also:species. The chiru, which belongs to the typical or antilopine See also:section of antelopes, is probably allied to the See also:saiga. (R. L.*) CHIRURGEON, one whose profession it is to cure disease by operating with the See also:hand. The word in its original form is now obsolete. It derives from the See also:Mid.

Eng. cirurgien or sirurgien, through the Fr. from the Gr. Xetpovpy6s, one who operates with the hand (from Xeip, hand, epyov, See also:

work); from the See also:early form is derived the See also:modern word " surgeon." " Chirurgeon " is a 16th See also:century reversion to the See also:Greek origin.

End of Article: CHIRU

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