Monday 15 June 2009

Animal collective nouns.

Did you know that almost every animal in the world has a different word for a group of them? (excluding animals that are solitary)
There's the ones everyone knows:
  • A colony of ants
  • A herd of deer
  • A troop of gorillas
  • A cete of badgers
  • A swarm of bees
  • A pack of dogs
  • A gaggle of geese
  • A pride of lions
  • A parliament of owls
Some that you might not know:
  • A bask of crocodiles
  • A sleuth of bears
  • A rabble of butterfly
  • A clutter of cats
  • A coalition of cheaters
  • A leap of leopards
  • A business of ferrets
  • An intrusion of cockroaches
  • A piteousness of doves
  • A charm of humming birds
  • An aerie of hawks
  • A siege of herons
  • A bloat of hippopotamus
  • A murder of crows
  • A mischief of mice
  • A yoke of oxen
  • An ostentation of peacocks
  • A trace of rabbits
  • A crash of rhinos
  • A shiver of sharks
  • A bale of turtles
  • A decent of woodpeckers
  • A tower of giraffes
  • A dray of squirrels
  • An unkindness of ravens
  • A gaze of raccoons
  • A parcel of penguins
  • An exhalation of lark
  • A quiver of cobra
And my personal favorites:
  • A dazzle of zebra
  • An implausibility of gnu
  • A smack of jellyfish

1 comment:

  1. I love "An ostentation of peacocks"! Excellent! But surely the plural for Hippopotamus is Hippopotami?!

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