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 Talk Talk - Communication terms
Category: General technical and industrial
Date & country: 28/05/2010, UK
Words: 18630


Ozero Balkhash
Alternative name for Lake Balkhash in eastern Kazakhstan

PAYE
Abbreviation for Pay-As-You-Earn

Pays de la Loire
Agricultural region of western France, comprising the départements of Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire, Mayenne, Sarthe, and La Vendée; area 32,082 sq km/12,387 sq mi; population (1999 est) 3,222,100. The administrative centre is Nantes. Industries include shipbuilding and wine production. The re...

Pavlov, Ivan Petrovich
Russian physiologist who was awarded a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1904 for his discovery of the physiology of digestion. Pavlov studied conditioned reflexes in animals (see conditioning). His work had a great impact on behavioural theory (see behaviourism) and learning theory

palm
Click images to enlargeAny of a group of large treelike plants with a single tall stem that has a thick cluster of large palmate (five-lobed) leaves or pinnate leaves (leaflets either side of the stem) at the top. Most of the numerous species are tropical or subtropical. Some, such as the coconut, date, sago, and oil ...

Pavarotti, Luciano
Italian tenor. He was known for an impressive dynamic range. His operatic roles have included Rodolfo in La Bohème, Cavaradossi in Tosca, the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto, and Nemorino in L'Elisir d'amore. He achieved much in popularizing opera, performing to wi...

Paul, St
Christian missionary and martyr; in the New Testament, one of the apostles and author of 13 Epistles. Originally known as Saul, he was opposed to Christianity, and took part in the stoning of St Stephen. Acts of the Apostles (Chapter 9) tells how he was converted by a vision on the road to Damasc...

Patton, George Smith
US general in World War II, known as `Old Blood and Guts`. During World War I, he formed the first US tank force and led it in action in 1918. He was appointed to command the 2nd Armored Division in 1940 and became commanding general of the 1st Armored Corps in 1941. In 1942 he led the Western Task Force that landed at Casablanca, Morocco...

patrician
Member of a privileged class in ancient Rome, which originally dominated the Senate. During the 5th and 4th centuries BC many of the rights formerly exercised by the patricians alone were extended to the plebeians, and patrician descent became a matter of prestige

Patrick, St
Patron saint of Ireland. Born in Britain, probably in South Wales, he was carried off by pirates to six years' slavery in Antrim, Ireland, before escaping either to Britain or Gaul to train as a missionary. He is variously said to have landed again in Ireland in 432 or 456, and his work was a vital factor in the spread of Christian influence th...

patriarch
In the Old Testament, one of the ancestors of the human race, and especially those of the ancient Hebrews, from Adam to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and his sons (who became patriarchs of the Hebrew tribes). In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the term refers to the leader of a national church

Patras
Industrial city (hydroelectric installations, textiles, paper) in the northwestern Peloponnese region, Greece, on the Gulf of Patras; population (2001) 185,700. The ancient Patrai, it is the only one of the 12 cities of the ancient Greek province of Achaea to survive

Patou, Jean
French clothes designer. He opened a fashion house in 1919 and was an overnight success. His swimsuits and innovative designs were popular in the 1920s and he dominated both the couture and the ready-to-wear sectors of the fashion world until his death. He had a great influence on the designers he employed, many of whom went on to make name...

Patmos
Greek island in the Aegean Sea, one of the Dodecanese; the chief town is Hora. St John is said to have written the New Testament Book of Revelation while in exile here

Patna
Capital of Bihar state, India, on the River Ganges, 450 km/280 mi northwest of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta); population (2001) 1,377,000. It has remains of a hall built by the emperor Asoka in the 3rd century BC; it was capital of several kingdoms in the succeeding centuries, under the name of Pataliputra

Pathan
Member of a people of northwestern Pakistan and Afghanistan, numbering about 14 million (1984). The majority are Sunni Muslims. The Pathans speak Pashto, a member of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family. The Pathans comprise distinct groups. Some live as nomads in the high mountains with herds of goats and camels; others,...

patent
Documents conferring the exclusive right to make, use, and sell an invention for a limited period. Ideas are not eligible; neither is anything not new. In the UK, patents are granted by the Patent Office and, under the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988, confer the sole right to make, use, license, or sell an invention for 20 years after ...

Patagonia
Click images to enlargeGeographic region of South America, in southern Argentina and Chile; area 780,000 sq km/301,000 sq mi. A thinly populated vast plateau area, it stretches from the Río Colorado in central Argentina to eastern part of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago in the south, and slopes eastwards fro...

Pasteur, Louis
French chemist and microbiologist who discovered that fermentation is caused by micro-organisms and developed the germ theory of disease. He also created a vaccine for rabies, which led to the foundation of the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 1888. Stereoisomers Pasteur first gained recognition through his early work on the optical activity of st...

Passover
Alternative term for the Jewish festival of Pesach

Pasternak, Boris Leonidovich
Russian poet and novelist. His novel Dr Zhivago (1957) was banned in the USSR as a `hostile act`, and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957 (which Pasternak declined). The ban on Dr Zhivago has since been lifted and Pasternak's reputation as a writer has been revived since his death. ...

Passfield, Baron Passfield
Title of the Fabian socialist Sidney Webb

passion play
Play representing the death and resurrection of Jesus, performed on Good Friday throughout medieval Europe. It has its origins in medieval mystery plays. Traditionally, a passion play takes place every ten years at Oberammergau, Germany

Pashto language
Indo-European language, the official language of Afghanistan, also spoken in northern Pakistan

Passchendaele, Battle of
In World War I, successful but costly British operation to capture the Passchendaele ridge in western Flanders, part of the third Battle of Ypres October–November 1917; British casualties numbered nearly 310,000. The name is often erroneously applied to the whole of the battle of Ypres, but Passchendaele was in fact just part of that battl...

Parthia
Ancient country in western Asia in what is now northeastern Iran, capital Ctesiphon. Parthian ascendancy began with the Arsacid dynasty in 248 BC, and reached the peak of its power under Mithridates I in the 2nd century BC; the region was annexed to Persia under the Sassanians AD 226. Parthian horse riders feigned retreat and shot their arrows ...

Parsifal
In Germanic mythology, one of the knights who sought the Holy Grail; the father of Lohengrin

Parthenon
Temple of Athena Parthenos (`the Virgin`) on the Acropolis at Athens; built 447–438 BC by Callicrates and Ictinus under the supervision of the sculptor Phidias, and the most perfect example of Doric architecture. In turn a Christian church and a Turkish mosque, it was then used as ...

Parry, William Edward
English admiral and Arctic explorer. He made detailed charts during explorations of the Northwest Passage (the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans) 1819–20, 1821–23, and 1824–25. Knighted 1829. He made an attempt to reach the North Pole 1827. The Parry Islands, Northwest Territories, Canada, are named after him

Parr, Catherine
Sixth wife of Henry VIII of England. She had already lost two husbands when in 1543 she married Henry. She survived him, and in 1547 married the Lord High Admiral Thomas Seymour of Sudeley (1508–1549)

Parnassus
Mountain in central Greece, height 2,457 m/8,200 ft, revered by the ancient Greeks as the abode of Apollo and the Muses. The sacred site of Delphi lies on its southern flank

Parma
(town) Town in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, on the River Parma, 85 km/53 mi northwest of Bologna; population (1992) 170,600. It is the second largest in the region after Bologna. Industries include food-processing, oil-refining, engineering, and the production of textile...

Parliament, European
Governing body of the European Union (formerly the European Community); see European Parliament

Parliament, Houses of
Building where the UK legislative assembly meets. The present Houses of Parliament in London, designed in Gothic Revival style by the architects Charles Barry and A W N Pugin, were built 1840–60, the previous building having burned down in 1834. It incorporates portions of the medieval Palace of...

Parkinson's disease
Degenerative disease of the brain characterized by a progressive loss of mobility, muscular rigidity, tremor, and speech difficulties. The condition is mainly seen in people over the age of 50. Parkinson's disease destroys a group of cells called the substantia nigra (`black substance`) in the upper part of the brai...

Parker, Dorothy
US writer and wit. She was a leading member of the literary circle known as the Algonquin Round Table. She reviewed for the magazines Vanity Fair and the New Yorker, and wrote wittily ironic verses, collected in several volumes including Enough Rope (1927), and Not So Deep as a Well&...

Park Chung Hee
South Korean politician, president 1963–79. Under his rule South Korea had one of the world's fastest-growing economies, but recession and his increasing authoritarianism led to his assassination in 1979

Park, Mungo
Scottish explorer who traced the course of the Niger River 1795–97. He disappeared and probably drowned during a second African expedition 1805–06. He published Travels in the Interior of Africa (1799). Park spent 18 months in the Niger Basin while tracing the river. Even though he did not achieve his goal of reaching T...

parish council
Lowest neighbourhood unit of local government in England and Wales, based on church parishes. They developed as units for local government with the introduction of the Poor Law in the 17th century. In Wales and Scotland they are commonly called community councils. In England approximately 8,200 out of the 10,000 parishes have elected councils. Ther...

Paris, Treaty of
Any of various peace treaties signed in Paris, including: 1763 ending the Seven Years' War following the abdication and final defeat of Napoleon I; 1856 ending the Crimean War; 1898 ending the Spanish-American War; 1919–20 the conference preparing the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I was held in Paris;...

Paris
(city) Click images to enlargePort and capital of France, on the River Seine; département (Ville de Paris) in the Île-de-France region; area of the agglomération...

paranoia
Mental disorder marked by delusions of grandeur or persecution. In popular usage, paranoia means baseless or exaggerated fear and suspicion. In chronic paranoia, patients exhibit a rigid system of false beliefs and opinions, believing themselves, for example, to be followed by the secret police, to be loved by someone at a distance, or to be of gre...

paradise
In various religions, a place or state of happiness. Examples are the Garden of Eden and the Messianic kingdom; the Islamic paradise of the Koran is a place of sensual pleasure

paralysis
Loss of voluntary movement due to failure of nerve impulses to reach the muscles involved. It may result from almost any disorder of the nervous system, including brain or spinal cord injury, poliomyelitis, stroke, and progressive conditions such as a tumour or multiple sclerosis. Paralysis may also involve loss of sensation due to sensory nerve di...

Paracelsus, Philippus Aureolus
Swiss physician, alchemist, and scientist who developed the idea that minerals and chemicals might have medical uses (iatrochemistry). He introduced the use of laudanum (which he named) for pain-killing purposes. Overturning the contemporary view of illness as an imbalance of the four humours (see humours, theory of), Paracelsus sought an exter...

Pará
State of northern Brazil, bounded in the north by Guyana and Suriname, and in the northeast by the Atlantic; area 1,246,833 sq km/481,405 sq mi; population (1991) 5,181,570; capital Belém. It is the second-largest state in Brazil; the Amazon delta lies wholly within it. There are dense rain forests and the area is well ...

papyrus
Type of paper made by the ancient Egyptians. Typically papyrus was made by gluing together some 20 sheets of the pith of the papyrus or paper reed plant Cyperus papyrus, family Cyperaceae. These sheets were arranged in alternating layers aligned vertically, followed by horizontally. The strips were then covered with linen and bea...

Papineau, Louis Joseph
Canadian politician. He led a mission to England to protest against the planned union of Lower Canada (Québec) and Upper Canada (Ontario), and demanded economic reform and an elected provincial legislature. In 1835 he gained the cooperation of William Lyon Mackenzie in Upper Canada, and in 1837 organized an unsuccessful rebellion of the French...

Papal States
Area of central Italy in which the pope was temporal ruler from 756 until the unification of Italy in 1870

Papeete
Capital and port of French Polynesia on the northwest coast of Tahiti; population (1992) 24,200. Products include vanilla, copra, and mother-of-pearl

panzer
German mechanized units in World War II created by Heinz Guderain. A Panzer army was a mechanized unit based on a core of tanks and supported by infantry, artillery, and service troops in vehicles capable of accompanying the tanks

pantomime
In British theatre, a traditional Christmas entertainment. It has its origins in the harlequinade of the 18th century and burlesque of the 19th century, which gave rise to the tradition of the principal boy being played by a woman and the dame by a man. The harlequin's role diminished altogether as themes developed on folk tales such as `T...

pantheon
Originally a temple for worshipping all the gods, such as that in ancient Rome, rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian between AD 118 and about 128, and still used as a church. In more recent times, the name has been used for a building where famous people are buried (as in the Panthéon, Paris). The Pantheon in Rome has an enormous concrete dome spann...

pantheism
Doctrine that regards all of reality as divine, and God as present in all of nature and the universe. It is expressed in Egyptian religion and Brahmanism; Stoicism, neo-Platonism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam can be interpreted in pantheistic terms. Pantheistic philosophers include Giordano Bruno, Baruch Spinoza, J G Fichte, F W J Schel...

Panipat, Battles of
Three decisive battles in the vicinity of this Indian town, about 120 km/75 mi north of Delhi: 1526, when Babur, great-grandson of the Mongol conqueror Tamerlane, defeated the emperor of Delhi and founded the Mogul empire; 1556, won by his descendant Akbar; 1761, when the Marathas were defeated by Ahmad Shah Durrani of Afghanist...

Panchen Lama, 11th incarnation
Tibetan spiritual leader, second in importance to the Dalai Lama. China installed the present Panchen Lama, seven-year-old Gyantsen Norpo, in December 1995, after rejecting the Dalai Lama's choice, another seven-year-old boy, Gedhun Choekyo Nyima. Most Tibetans still silently reco...

Panamá
Capital of the Republic of Panama, on the east bank of the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal, with its port at Balboa in the Canal Zone; population (2000 est) 463,100. It became capital in 1903 following independence from Colombia. The city developed rapidly following the completion of the Canal. Its good communications by air and rail, as w...

Panama Canal
Click images to enlargeCanal across the Panama isthmus in Central America, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Built by the USA 1904–14, it is one of the world's most strategic waterways. The Panama Canal and the Panama Canal Zone, comprising land extending about 5 km/3 mi on either side of the canal,...

pampas grass
Any of a group of large grasses native to South America, especially C. argentea, which is grown in gardens and has tall leaves and large clusters of feathery white flowers growing around the tips of the flower-bearing stems. (Genus Cortaderia.)

pampas
Flat treeless plains in central Argentina, lying between the foothills of the Andes and the Atlantic coast, and stretching north from the Río Colorado to the Gran Chaco; area 750,000 sq km/290,000 sq mi; it incorporates the provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fé, and Cordobá. The eastern pampas consist of grassland...

Pamir
Central Asian plateau mainly in Tajikistan, but extending into China and Afghanistan, traversed by mountain ranges. Its highes t peak is Kommunizma Pik (Communism Peak, 7,495 m/24,590 ft) in the Akademiya Nauk range

Palmyra
(Syria) Ancient city and oasis in the desert of Syria, about 240 km/150 mi northeast of Damascus. Palmyra, the biblical Tadmor, was flourishing by about 300 BC. It was destroyed in AD 272 after Queen Zenobia led a revolt against the Romans. Extensive temple ruins exist, and on the site is ...

Palm Sunday
In the Christian calendar, the Sunday before Easter and first day of Holy Week, commemorating Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, when the crowd strewed palm leaves in his path. Palm Sunday is the last day of celebration for Christians before recalling the sadness of the events of the rest of the week. St Mark's Gospel, relating Jesus' triumph...

Palmer, Samuel
English landscape painter and etcher. His early works, small pastoral scenes mostly painted in watercolour and sepia, have an intense, visionary quality, greatly influenced by a meeting with the aged William Blake, and the latter's engravings for Thornton's Virgil. From 1826 to 1835 he lived in Shoreham, Kent, with a grou...

Palmas, Las
Port in the Canary Islands; see Las Palmas

Palma de Mallorca
Chief port, commercial centre, and capital of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain, situated on a wide bay on the southwest coast of the island of Mallorca, population (2001 est) 346,700. Industries include textiles, shoes, furniture, cement, paper, pottery, glass, and tourism – it is one of Europe's most renowned resorts...

palladium
(chemistry) Lightweight, ductile and malleable, silver-white, metallic element, atomic number 46, relative atomic mass 106.4. Together with the elements ruthenium, rhodium, osmium, iridium, and platinum, it forms the group of platinum metals, which have similar physical and chemical proper...

Palladio, Andrea
Italian architect who created harmonious and balanced classical structures. He designed numerous palaces and country houses in and around Vicenza, making use of Roman classical forms, symmetry, and proportion. The Villa Malcontenta and the Villa Rotonda are examples of houses designed from 1540 for p...

Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da
Italian composer. He wrote secular and sacred choral music, and is regarded as the outstanding exponent of Renaissance counterpoint. Apart from motets and madrigals, he also wrote 105 Masses, including Missa Papae Marcelli

Palestine
Historic geographical area at the eastern end of the Mediterranean sea, also known as the Holy Land because of its historic and symbolic importance for Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Early settlers included the Canaanites, Hebrews, and Philistines. Over the centuries it became part of the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Macedonian, Ptolemaic, Seleu...

Palermo
(city) Capital and chief seaport of Sicily; population (2001) 652,700. It is also capital of Palermo province. Palermo is situated on the fertile, citrus-growing northern coastal plain of the Conca d'Oro, on a bay of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Industries include shipbuilding, steel, glass...

Palembang
Oil-refining city in Indonesia, capital of South Sumatra province, on the River Musi; population (2000) 1,194,400. A port for ocean-going vessels, exports include rubber, coffee, petroleum, timber, and spices. As well as oil-refining, industries include shipbuilding, iron founding, rubber processing and the manufacture of fertilizer...

Palaeolithic
The Old Stone Age period, the earliest stage of human technology; see prehistory

Palatinate
Historic division of Germany, dating from before the 8th century. It was ruled by a count palatine (a count with royal prerogatives) and varied in size. When the Palatinate was attached to Bavaria in 1815 it consisted of two separate parts: Rhenish (or Lower) Palatinate on the Rhine (capital Heidelberg), and Upper Palatinate (capital Amberg on ...

Paine, Thomas
English left-wing political writer. He was active in the American and French revolutions. His pamphlet Common Sense (1776) ignited passions in the American Revolution; others include The Rights of Man (1791) and The Age of Reason (1793). He advocated republicanism, deism, the abolitio...

pain
Sense that gives an awareness of harmful effects on or in the body. It may be triggered by stimuli such as trauma, inflammation, and heat. Pain is transmitted by specialized nerves and also has psychological components controlled by higher centres in the brain. Drugs that control pain are known as painkillers or analgesics. A pain message to the br...

Pahlavi dynasty
Iranian dynasty founded by Reza Khan (1877–1944), an army officer who seized control of the government in 1921 and was proclaimed shah in 1925. During World War II, Britain and the USSR were nervous about his German sympathies and occupied Iran 1941–46. They compelled him to abdicate in 1941 in favour of his son Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi...

Pahang
State on the South China Sea coast of eastern Peninsular Malaysia; area 36,000 sq km/14,000 sq mi; population (2000 est) 1,231,200. The capital is Kuantan. Much of the state is situated in the Pahang river basin, an area of dense jungle dependent on river transport. Plantation agriculture, mainly producing rubber, is important along the...

Paganini, Niccolò
Italian violinist and composer. He was a concert soloist from the age of nine. A prodigious technician, he drew on folk and gypsy idioms to create the modern repertoire of virtuoso techniques. His dissolute appearance, wild love life, and amazing powers of expression, even on a single string, fostered rumours of his being in league with the devil. ...

Pagan
Archaeological site in Myanmar, on the Irrawaddy River, with the ruins of the former capital (founded 847, taken by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan 1287). These include Buddhist pagodas, shrines, and temples with wall paintings of the great period of Burmese art (11th–13th centuries), during which...

paediatrics
Medical speciality concerned with the care of children. Paediatricians treat childhood diseases such as measles, chicken pox, and mumps, and immunize children against more serious infections such as diphtheria. Their role also includes treating and identifying disorders caused by lack of proper nutrition or child abuse

Padua
(town) Town in Veneto, northern Italy, on the canalized section of the River Bacchiglione, 38 km/24 mi west of Venice; population (2001 est) 203,400. Industries include engineering, and the manufacture of clothing, bicycles, leather goods, and man-made fibres. The astronomer Galile...

Paderewski, Ignacy Jan
Polish pianist, composer, and politician. After his debut in Vienna in 1887, he became celebrated in Europe and the USA as an interpreter of the piano music of Chopin and as composer of the Polish Fantasy (1893) for piano and orchestra and the `Polonia` Symphony (1903–09). During World War I he h...

pacifism
Belief that violence, even in self-defence, is unjustifiable under any conditions and that arbitration is preferable to war as a means of solving disputes. In the East, pacifism has roots in Buddhism, and non-violent action was used by Mahatma Gandhi in the struggle for Indian independence

Pacific Security Treaty
Military alliance agreement between Australia, New Zealand, and the USA, signed in 1951. Military cooperation between the USA and New Zealand has been restricted by the latter's policy of banning ships that might be carrying nuclear weapons or nuclear power sources

Pacific Ocean
World's largest ocean, extending from Antarctica to the Bering Strait; area 166,242,500 sq km/64,186,500 sq mi; greatest breadth 16,000 km/9,942 mi; length 11,000 km/6,835 mi; average depth 4,188 m/13,749 ft; greatest depth of any ocean is the found in the Mariana Trench, in the northwest Pacific, with a dept...

Pacific Islands
Former (1947–1990) United Nations (UN) trust territory in the western Pacific captured from Japan during World War II. The territory comprised over 2,000 islands and atolls and was assigned to the USA in 1947. The islands were divided into four governmental units: the Northern Mariana Islands (except Guam) which became a self-governing...

Pakaraima Mountains
Mountain range in the Guiana Highlands along the border between Brazil, Venezuela, and Guyana, extending from west to east for over 800 km/497 mi. Its highest peak is Mount Roraima at 2,810 m/9,222 ft above sea level, surrounded by cliffs 300 m/1,000 ft high, at the conjunction of the three countries. The range forms a watershed between...

parallax
Click images to enlargeChange in the apparent position of an object against its background when viewed from two different positions. In astronomy, nearby stars show a shift owing to parallax when viewed from different positions on the Earth's orbit around the Sun. A star's parallax is used to deduce its distance f...

paraquat
Nonselective herbicide (weedkiller). Although quickly degraded by soil micro-organisms, it is deadly to human beings if ingested

Pauling, Linus Carl
US theoretical chemist and biologist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1954 for his study of the nature of chemical bonds, especially in complex substances. His ideas are fundamental to modern theories of molecular structure. He also investigated the properties and uses of vitamin C as related to human health. He was awarded the Nobe...

paraffin
Common name for alkane, any member of the series of hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n+2. The lower members are gases, such as methane (marsh or natural gas). The middle ones (mainly liquid) form the basis of petrol, kerosene, and lubricating oils, whil...

Pascal
High-level computer-programming language. Designed by Niklaus Wirth in the 1960s as an aid to teaching programming, it is still widely used as such in universities, and as a good general-purpose programming language. Most professional programmers, however, now use C or C++. Pascal was named after the 17th-century French math...

parallel processing
Emerging computer technology that allows more than one computation at the same time. Although in the 1990s this technology enabled only a small number of computer processor units to work in parallel, in theory thousands or millions of processors could be used at the same time. Parallel processing, which involves breaking down computations into smal...

partridge
Any of various medium-sized ground-dwelling fowl of the family Phasianidae, order Galliformes, that also includes pheasants, quail, and chickens. Partridges are Old World birds, some of which have become naturalized in North America. Partridges pair very early in the year, the males, like the males of most gallinaceous species, being very p...

parrot
Click images to enlargeTropical bird found mainly in Australia and South America. These colourful birds have been valued as pets in the Western world for many centuries. Parrots have the ability to imitate human speech. They are mainly vegetarian, and range in size from the 8.5 cm/3.5 in pygmy parrot to the 100 cm/...

parakeet
Any of various small long-tailed parrots, order Psittaciformes, with a moderate beak. They include the ring-necked parakeets, genus Psittacula, which are very common in India and Africa, and cockatiels, and budgerigars, natives of Australia. The king parakeet is about the size of a magpie and has a red head and breast and...

pangolin
Toothless mammal of tropical Africa and Southeast Asia. They are long-tailed and covered with large, overlapping scales, except on the muzzle, sides of the head, throat, chest, and belly. They have an elongated skull and a long, extensible tongue. Pangolins measure 30–100 cm/12–39 in long, exclusive of the prehensile tail, which i...

paca
Large, tailless, nocturnal, burrowing rodent, related to the agoutis. The paca, about 60 cm/2 ft long, is native to Central and South America. (Genus Cuniculus, family Dasyproctidae.)

panda
Click images to enlargeOne of two carnivores of different families, native to northwestern China and Tibet. The giant panda Ailuropoda melanoleuca has black-and-white fur with black eye patches and feeds mainly on bamboo shoots, consuming about 8 kg/17.5 lb of bamboo per day. It can grow up ...