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 names given to the groups of different animals are often unexpectedly bizarre.
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 the names for groups of other 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.
Collective nouns for animals
Mammals
- 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
- 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
- Moles – labour
- Monkeys – troop
- Otters – romp, bevy
- Porcupines – prickle
- Porpoises – herd; pod; school
- Prairie dogs – coterie
- Rabbits – berry
- Rhinoceroses – crash
- Roes – bevy
- Rooks – building; parliament
- Seals – plump; spring
- 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
Birds
- 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
Amphibians and Reptiles
- Frogs – knot
- Toads – knot
- Vipers – nest
- Cobras – quiver
- Lizards – lounge
Fish
- Fish – run (moving upstream for spawning); school; shoal trout – hover
- Sharks – shiver, school
Invertebrates
- Bees – bike; drift; hive; swarm
- Butterflies – flight; wing
- Cockroaches – intrusion
- Jellyfish – smack, brood
- Mosquitoes – scourge
- Snails – escargatoire, rout, walk
And if you are not heading on a safari any time soon, here are some collective nous for domestic animals
- Cats – clowder, pounce or glaring; for kittens – a kindle, litter or intrigue
- Dogs – litter (puppies) or cowardice (curs)
- 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
