RUSSELL MCLENDON

Science journalist blogs about humans and other wildlife.

Whether it's a shrewdness of apes, a pandemonium of parrots or a zeal of zebras, lots of animals have bizarre, little-known names when they cluster into crowds.

Mon, Jun 03, 2013 at 12:52 PM

A parliament of burrowing owls in Florida. (Photo: Tania Thomson/Shutterstock)

From social butterflies to solitary scavengers, virtually all animals gather into groups at some point in their lives. Herd immunity is one reason, since packs of prey are harder to attack, but many animals also use collective wisdom to make better decisions. Some even blur the line between individual and group, while others limit social time to mating season.

Regardless of what draws them together, something odd tends to happen when creatures form crowds: They're suddenly known by bizarre, often silly names. These group nouns are rarely used, even by scientists, but they nonetheless represent our own species' collective creativity for linguistics — not to mention our deep-rooted affinity for nature.

Taking the time to name a "richness of martens" or a "murmuration of starlings," for example, suggests a basic lack of contempt for the wildlife in question. Even our more derogatory labels, like an "obstinancy of buffalo" or an "unkindness of ravens," reveal a certain respect for the nonhuman neighbors that share our environment.

Without further ado, here are 99 of the strangest collective names we've given to animals:

Mammals and marsupials

A conspiracy of lemurs (Photo: Chris Gin/Flickr)

Apes: a shrewdness
Badgers: a cete
Bats: a cauldron
Bears: a sloth or sleuth
Buffalo: a gang or obstinacy
Cats: a clowder, pounce or glaring; for kittens: a kindle, litter or intrigue
Dogs: a litter (puppies), pack (wild) or cowardice (curs)
Donkeys: a pace
Elephants: a parade
Elk: a gang
Ferrets: a business
Fox: a leash, skulk or earth
Giraffes: a tower
Goats: a tribe or trip
Gorillas: a band
Hippopotamuses: a bloat or thunder
Hyenas: a cackle
Jaguars: a shadow
Kangaroos: a troop or mob
Lemurs: a conspiracy
Leopards: a leap
Lions: a pride or sawt
Martens: a richness
Moles: a labor
Monkeys: a troop or barrel
Mules: a pack, span or barren
Otters: a romp
Pigs: a drift, drove, sounder, team or passel
Porcupines: a prickle
Porpoises: a pod, school, herd or turmoil
Rabbits: a colony, warren, nest, down, husk or herd (domestic only)
Rhinoceroses: a crash
Squirrels: a dray or scurry
Tigers: an ambush or streak
Whales: a pod, gam or herd
Wolves: a pack, rout or route (when in movement)

Birds

An ostentation of peacocks (Photo: Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)

Bitterns: a sedge
Buzzards: a wake
Bobolinks: a chain
Coots: a cover
Cormorants: a gulp
Crows: a murder or horde
Dotterel: a trip
Doves: a dule or pitying (specific to turtle doves)
Ducks: a brace, team, flock (in flight), raft (on water), paddling or badling
Eagles: a convocation
Finches: a charm
Flamingos: a stand
Geese: a flock, gaggle (on the ground) or skein (in flight)
Grouse: a pack (in late season)
Hawks: a cast, kettle (in flight) or boil (two or more spiraling in air)
Herons: a sedge or siege
Jays: a party or scold
Lapwings: a deceit
Larks: an exaltation
Mallards: a sord (in flight) or brace
Magpies: a tiding, gulp, murder or charm
Nightingales: a watch
Owls: a parliament
Parrots: a pandemonium or company
Partridge: a covey
Peacocks: an ostentation or muster
Penguins: a colony, muster, parcel or rookery
Pheasant: a nest, nide (a brood), nye or bouquet
Plovers: a congregation or wing (in flight)
Ptarmigans: a covey
Rooks: a building
Quail: a bevy or covey
Ravens: an unkindness
Snipe: a walk or wisp
Sparrows: a host
Starlings: a murmuration
Storks: a mustering
Swans: a bevy, game or wedge (in flight)
Teal: a spring
Turkeys: a rafter or gang
Woodcocks: a fall
Woodpeckers: a descent