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Ever wondered what you call a particular group of animals, people or things? Here are some of the (probably) hundreds of collective names. This list isn’t exhaustive and I’m always on the lookout for more, so do send me any you find that aren’t on the list.
Some names for animal groups go back centuries, some are probably very localised, while others are more descriptive and therefore probably more modern: a “parade” of elephants would seem to come from the circus, for example.
* Ants: a swarm (if they’re a problem) or colony (if they’re not)
* Apes: a shrewdness
* Asses: a pace
* Baboons: a troop
* Badgers: a cete
* Bees: a hive, erst, grist, swarm, or colony
* Bullfinches: a bellow
* Buffalo: a herd or an obstinacy
* Cats: a clowder
* Caterpillars: an army
* Cattle: a herd or drove
* Clams: a bed (I thought that was where they grew, but it’s the group itself)
* Cranes: a siege (also herons)
* Crocodiles: a bask
* Crows: a murder
* Deer: a herd
* Dogs: a pack
* Dolphins: a school or pod
* Doves: a dole
* Ducks: a safe, team, brace, flock or paddling
* Eagles: a convocation
* Elephants: a herd or parade
* Finches, goldfinches: a charm
* Fish: a shoal or school
* Flies: a swarm
* Frogs: an army
* Geese: a skein (when they’re flying); a gaggle or flock (on the ground)
* Giraffes: a tower
* Goats: a herd, trip, flock, tribe
* Goldfinches: a charm
* Gorillas: a band
* Grouse: a pack or a brace (two, dead)
* Hens/chickens: a flock or brood
* Herons: a siege
* Hippopotami: a bloat
* Horses: a herd, drove or string (ponies: a herd or string)
* Hounds: a cry or pack
* Humans: a mob, crowd, group, congregation, gathering, convention, and more – we’ve plenty of names for ourselves!
* Hyenas: a cackle
* Kangaroos: a mob, herd or troop
* Kittens: a kindle or litter
* Larks: an exaltation or a bevy
* Locusts: a swarm or plague
* Magpies: a tiding
* Mice: a mischief
* Moles: a labour
* Monkeys: a troop
* Mules: a span
* Nightingales: a watch
* Nuns: a convent
* Otters: a romp
* Owls: a parliament
* Oxen: a herd, team or drove
* Oysters: a bed
* Parrots: a company or pandemonium
* Partridges: a covey
* Peacocks: a cluster, muster or (my favourite) an ostentation
* Penguins: a colony, muster, or parcel
* Pheasants: a nid, nye, bevy or bouquet or a brace (two, dead, often a cock and a hen)
* Pigs/hogs/swine: a herd, drift or (piglets) litter
* Plovers: a congregation
* Porcupines: a prickle
* Porpoises: a turmoil, school
* Quail: a bevy or covey
* Rats: a colony
* Ravens: an unkindness
* Rhinoceros: a crash
* Rooks: a building or parliament (but Ravens: an unkindness, and Crows: a murder; biased or what?)
* Seals: a pod or herd
* Sheep: a herd, trip, drove or flock
* Starfish: as far as I know they don’t have one, but they lie around just-not-quite-touching, like sunbathers on a crowded beach.
* Starlings: a murmuration
* Storks: a mustering
* Swans: a bevy or wedge (singular male swan is a cob, female is a pen)
* Tigers: an ambush
* Turkeys: a rafter
* Turtles: a bale or dole
* Unicorns: a blessing
* Whales: a pod, gam, herd or school
* Wolves: a pack or rout
* Zebras: a zeal