Make Your Editor Cry: Animals in Groups (186 terms)
Whether it is a group of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, or insects there is usually a unique collective noun to identify the specific group, although some of these names are rarely used. Most people are likely to use the general term flock for a group of eagles or crows, rather than the proper terms convocation and murder. It’s likely that they would use herd for a group of whales or rhinoceros instead of a pod or a stubbornness. I have my personal favorites along the lines of jug, quiver, earth, maelstrom, and shiver, but you might find some gems of your own.
Collective names for groups of animals date back to medieval times. If your character is a knowledgeable person, a scientist, or a sesquipedalian logophile like myself (look it up), then he or she is going to know the proper term.
I scraped all the references I could find and ended up with a list of more than 180 of them, though I expect I might have missed one or two. Enjoy.
| Animal | Group Name |
| Albatross | a rookery |
| Alligator | a congregation |
| Ant | a colony or an army |
| Antelope | a herd |
| Ape | a troop or a shrewdness |
| Baboon | a troop or a flange (note: many claim the word for a group of baboons is either a “congress” or a “parliament” which is not true, although the converse is certainly true.) |
| Bacteria | a culture |
| Badger | a cete |
| Barracuda | a battery |
| Bass | a shoal |
| Bat | a colony or a cauldron |
| Bear | a sleuth or a sloth |
| Beaver | a colony or a family |
| Bee | a grist, hive, or a swarm |
| Bird | a flock, flight, congregation, or volery |
| Bittern | a sedge |
| Bloodhound | a sute |
| Boar | a sounder |
| Bobolink | a chain |
| Buck | a brace or clash |
| Buffalo | an obstinacy, gang, or herd |
| Butterfly | a kaleidoscope, flutter, or a swarm |
| Buzzard | a wake |
| Camel | a caravan, flock, train, or a herd |
| Cat | a clowder, pounce, glaring, or a destruction (if they’re wild) |
| Caterpillar | an army |
| Cattle | a mob, drove, or herd |
| Cheeta | a coalition |
| Chick | a clutch or chattering |
| Chicken | a brood, clutch, or peep |
| Clam | a bed |
| Cobra | a quiver |
| Cockroach | an intrusion |
| Colt | a rag or a rake |
| Coot | a cover |
| Cormorant | a gulp |
| Cow | a kine |
| Coyote | a band |
| Crab | a cast or a consortium |
| Crane | a sedge or siege |
| Crocodile | a bask or float |
| Crow | a murder, horde, unkindness, or a conspiracy |
| Cub | a litter |
| Deer | a herd or a parcel |
| Dog | a litter (if they’re puppies), pack (if they’re wild), or a cowardice (if they’re curs) |
| Dolphin | a pod |
| Donkey | a herd or pace |
| Dotterel | a trip |
| Dove | a dule or a pitying (used only for turtle doves) |
| Duck | a brace, team, flock (when in flight), raft (when on water), paddling, or a badling |
| Eagle | a convocation |
| Eel | a bed |
| Elephant | a herd, parade, or a memory |
| Elk | a gang |
| Emu | a mob |
| Falcon | a cast |
| Ferret | a business, hob (male), jill (female), kit (babies), or fesnyng |
| Finch | a charm |
| Fish | a catch, draft, haul, nest, run, school, or a shoal |
| Flamingo | a stand or a flamboyance |
| Fly | a swarm, hatch, or business |
| Fox | a leash, skulk, or an earth (i think this is the winner for strangest group name) |
| Frog | an army or colony |
| Geese | a flock, gaggle (when on the ground), or a skein (when in flight) |
| Giraffe | a tower |
| Gnat | a cloud or horde |
| Gnu | an implausibility |
| Goat | a trip, drove, herd, flock, or a tribe |
| Goldfinch | a charm |
| Goldfish | a troubling |
| Gorilla | a troop or a band |
| Grasshopper | a cloud |
| Greyhound | a leash |
| Grouse | a pack (in late season) |
| Hare | a down or husk |
| Hawk | a cast, kettle (when in flight), or a boil (when there are two or more spiraling in air) |
| Hedgehog | an array |
| Hen | a brood |
| Heron | a sedge or a siege |
| Herring | an army |
| Hippopotamus | a thunder or a bloat |
| Hog | a drift or parcel |
| Horse | a team, pair, or harras |
| Hound | a pack, mute, or cry |
| Hummingbird | a charm |
| Hyena | a clan or a cackle |
| Iguana | a slaughter |
| Jaguar | a prowl or a shadow |
| Jay | a scold or a party |
| Jellyfish (Sea Jellies) | a bloom, fluther, or a smuck |
| Kangaroo | a mob or a troop |
| Kitten | a kindle, litter, or an intrigue |
| Komodo Dragon | a bank |
| Lapwing | a deceit |
| Lark | an ascension or exaltation |
| Lemur | a conspiracy |
| Leopard | a leap |
| Lice | a flock |
| Lion | a pride or a sawt |
| Lobster | a risk |
| Locust | a plague or cloud |
| Lyrebird | a musket |
| Magpie | a tiding, charm, tittering, or a gulp |
| Mallard | a brace or a sord (when in flight) |
| Mare | a stud |
| Marten | a richness |
| Minnow | a steam |
| Mole | a labor or movement |
| Monkey | a troop, barrel, or cartload |
| Mosquito | a swarm or a scourge |
| Mule | a pack, span, or a barren |
| Narwhal | a blessing |
| Nightingale | a watch |
| Octopus | a consortium or a rally |
| Otter | a raft or a romp |
| Owl | a parliament (the human parliament has more in common with baboons than owls) |
| Oxen | a yoke, drove, team or herd |
| Oyster | a bed |
| Panda | an embarrassment |
| Parrot | a pandemonium or a company |
| Partridge | a covey |
| Peacock | an ostentation or a muster |
| Peep | a litter |
| Pelican | a pod or a squadron |
| Penguin | a convent, tuxedo, colony, muster, parcel, or a rookery |
| Pheasant | a nest, nide (a brood), nye, guff (in-flight), or a bouquet (take-off) |
| Pig | a litter |
| Pigeon | a flock or flight |
| Plover | a congregation or a wing (when in flight) |
| Polar Bear | a pack, aurora, or a celebration |
| Pony | a string |
| Porcupine | a prickle |
| Porpoise | a turmoil, pod, school, or a herd |
| Prairie Dog | a colonies or a coteries |
| Ptarmigan | a covey |
| Quail | a jug, bevy, or a covey |
| Rabbit | a colony, nest, warren, husk, down, or a herd |
| Raccoon | a gaze, boars (group of males), sows (group of females) |
| Rat | a pack or swarm |
| Rattlesnake | a rhumba |
| Raven | an unkindness |
| Rhinoceros | a stubbornness, crash, or herd |
| Roebuck | a bevy |
| Rook | a building or clamour |
| Salamander | a maelstrom |
| Salmon | a run |
| Sardine | a family |
| Seagull | a squabble |
| Seal | a pod, harem, or herd |
| Shark | a shiver |
| Sheep | a drove or flock |
| Sloth | a bed |
| Snail | a rout, walk, hood, or an escargatoire |
| Snake | a nest, knot, pit, or a den |
| Snipe | a walk or a wisp |
| Sparrow | a host |
| Spider | a cluster |
| Squid | an audience |
| Squirrel | a scurry or a dray (a mother and her babies in a nest) |
| Starling | a murmuration |
| Stingray | a fever |
| Stork | a muster or a mustering |
| Swallow | a flight |
| Swan | a bevy, herd, lamentation, or a wedge (when in flight) |
| Swift | a flock |
| Swine | a sounder or drift |
| Teal | a spring |
| Thrush | a mutation |
| Tiger | a streak or an ambush |
| Toad | a knot or knab |
| Trout | a hover |
| Turkey | a gang or a rafter |
| Turtle | a bale or a nest |
| Turtle dove | a pitying or dule |
| Viper | a nest or generation |
| Vulture | a venue, committee, kettle, or a wake (refers to a group feeding on carcass) |
| Walrus | a pod |
| Wasp | a pledge |
| Weasel | a pack |
| Whale | a pod, gam, school, or a herd |
| Wolf | a pack, rout, or a route (when in movement) |
| Wombat | a wisdom |
| Woodcock | a fall |
| Woodpecker | a descent |
| Worm | a bunch or an opeth |
| Zebra | a herd, zeal, or a dazzle |
Gregg Bridgeman is the Editor-in-Chief at Olivia Kimbrell Press. He is husband to best-selling Christian author Hallee Bridgeman and parent to three. He continues to proudly serve in the US Armed Forces and has done so in either an active or reserve capacity for more than twenty years as an airborne and air assault qualified paratrooper, earning a Bronze Star for his service. Most importantly, he was ordained in October of 2001 after surrendering his life to Christ decades earlier.