Collective nouns for animals

A crash of rhinos, anyone? Or a prickle of porcupines? How about a parliament of owls?

If you have no idea what I am talking about, you are not alone. The collective nouns used as names for groups of animals are often unexpectedly bizarre. While most of us know that a group of lions is called a pride, who knew that a group of jaguars is called a shadow? Or that the collective noun for leopards is a leap?

Earlier this year, I found myself watching a very active bird feeder on a Brazilian farm in the Pantanal, when I heard my friend remark: “Such a colourful pandemonium of parrots”. In answer to our blank stares, he explained that the collective noun used for a group of parrots was a pandemonium. No doubt, he’s been waiting for a chance to drop it in a conversation since the beginning of our trip.

That conversation piqued my curiosity and I decided to look up some more collective nouns for animals. If you would like to impress your friends on your next safari, pick a couple of terms from the list below and use them at the first chance you get.

In this post hide

1. Collective nouns for animals

1.1. Names for Groups of Mammals

1.2. Names for Groups of Birds

1.3. Names for Groups of Amphibians and Reptiles

1.4. Names for Groups of Fish

1.5. Names for Groups of Invertebrates

1.6. Names for Groups of Domestic Animals

2. Origins of Names for Groups of Animals

3. More Wildlife Guides

Names for Groups of Mammals

To get the ball rolling with discovering the unexpected names for groups of animals: What is a group of lemurs called?

Collective nouns for animals - a tower of giraffes — A tower of giraffes in South Africa (Image – Pixabay)

Apes – shrewdness
Badgers – cete
Bats – colony
Bears – sloth (or sleuth)
Buffalo – gang, herd
Cats (wild) – destruction
Cheetahs – Coalition
Deer – brace (two), leash (three)
Dolphins – herd, pod, school
Donkeys – herd, pace
Echidnas – parade
Elephants – parade, herd
Elk – gang
Ferrets – business
Foxes – earth; leash (three), skulk
Fur seals – harem (belonging to one male)
Giraffes – tower, herd
Gorillas – band
Hares – down, huske, leash (three)
Hedgehogs – array
Hippopotamuses – bloat
Horses – harras, span (a team of two), string
Hyenas – cackle, clan
Jaguars – shadow
Kangaroos – flock, mob, troop
Kittens – kindle
Lemur – conspiracy
Leopards – leap
Lions – pride
Martens – richesse
Mice – mischief, nest
Moles – labour
Monkeys – troop
Otters – raft, romp, bevy
Platypus – paddle
Porcupines – prickle
Porpoises – herd, pod, school
Prairie dogs – coterie
Rabbits – berry
Rhinoceroses – crash
Roes – bevy
Rooks – building, parliament
Seals – plump, spring, colony, harem
Sheep – flock, fold, mob, wing
Squirrels – scurry, dray (a nest)
Tigers – streak, ambush
Whales – gam, herd, plump, pod
Wolves – pack, rout
Wombats – wisdom
Zebras – zeal

Names for Groups of Birds

Learning that a group of parrots is called a pandemonium was an eye-opening revelation for me. But this is not even the strangest name on the list.

Collective nouns for animals - pandemonium of parrots — A pandemonium of parrots in Brazil

Choughs – clattering
Coots – covert
Crows – murder
Doves – dole (or dule)
Ducks – paddling (on water); raft (on water)
Dunlins – fling (in flight)
Eagles – convocation, aerie
Emus – mob
Falcons – cast (a pair released after game)
Finches – charm, chirm
Flamingos – flamboyance
Fowl – plump, skein (in flight), trip
Geese – gaggle, skein (in flight), wedge (in V formation in flight)
Goldfinches – charm
Grouse – brace (two), covey, pack
Hawks – cast (a pair released after game), kettle (riding a thermal), leash (three)
Herons – siege (or sedge, or sege)
Lapwings – desert
Larks – bevy, exaltation, exalting
Magpies – tidings
Mallards – sord, sute
Nightingales – watch
Owls – parliament
Parrots – pandemonium
Partridges – covey
Peacocks – muster, ostentation
Pheasants – bevy, bouquet (when flushed), nye
Pigeons – kit
Plovers – congregations, wing
Quails – bevy
Ravens – unkindness
Ruffs – hill
Sheldrake – dropping
Snipe – walk, wisp
Sparrows – host
Starlings – murmuration
Swans – wedge (in V formation in flight)
Teal – spring, string
Turkeys – rafter
Waterfowl – bunch, knob (less than 30), raft (on water)
Woodcocks – fall
Woodpeckers – descension

Names for Groups of Amphibians and Reptiles

Crocodiles – bask
Frogs – knot
Toads – knot
Vipers – nest
Cobras – quiver
Lizards – lounge

Names for Groups of Fish

A shiver of sharks (Image source: Pixabay)

Fish – run (moving upstream for spawning), school, shoal, hover
Sharks – shiver, school

Names for Groups of Invertebrates

The collective noun for a group of jellyfish is a smack of jellyfish — A smack of jellyfish (Image source: Pixabay)

Bees – bike, drift, hive, swarm
Butterflies – flight, wing
Cockroaches – intrusion
Jellyfish – smack, brood
Mosquitoes – scourge
Snails – escargatoire, rout, walk

Names for Groups of Domestic Animals

And if you are not heading on a safari any time soon, here are some collective nous for domestic animals

Name for a group of kittens is an intrigue of kittens — An intrigue of kittens (image source: Pixabay)

Cats – clowder, pounce or glaring, for kittens – a kindle, litter or intrigue
Dogs – litter (puppies) or cowardice
Donkeys – pace
Goats – tribe or trip
Mules – pack, span or barren
Pigs – drift, drove, sounder, team or passel
Ducks – brace, team, flock (in flight), raft (on water), paddling or badling
Geese – flock, gaggle (on the ground) or skein (in flight)
Turkeys – rafter or gang

Origins of Names for Groups of Animals

You may rightfully wonder about the origin of these unexpected terms. Who and how came up with names like a parliament of owls?

A brief search on google reveals an interesting picture. Most of these terms originate from the Book of Saint Albans written in 1486 to introduce the terms of venery, which is an old French word for hunting. For centuries, English nobility spoke French rather than English.

So when English kings reverted to speaking English, the Book of Saint Albans was published to provide English terms used in hunting – a practice reserved for nobility alone. The book is also known by a more accurate title of “The Book of Hawking, Hunting, and Blasing of Arms“

And when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. The terms like a gaggle of geese or a nest of mice, reflect animal behaviour since they were created for hunting purposes. Other terms, like a crush of rhinos, are more recent additions, probably created to match the arcane names.