Most of us are used to calling groups of animals by different names. Think for example of animal groups like a flock of birds, a school of fish, a swarm of insects, or maybe a little bit less known but still often used, a murder of crows and a murmuration of starlings. But the list of collective nouns for animal groups does not stop here. Whether it is a cloud of bats, a zeal of zebras or a conspiracy of lemurs, lots of animals have bizarre, unusual names when they are found in groups!
An implausibility of gnus, entering the domain of the crocodile..
Although some of these group nouns are rarely used, even by scientists, they represent our creativity for linguistics and our deep-rooted affinity for nature. Many of them can be traced back to elitism of the fifteenth century when the first collection of these names was published in ‘The Book of St Albans‘, 1486.
A parliament of burrowing owls.
Many of the names for animal groups refer to the behaviour of the animals. For example, a parliament of rooks is derived from the way the birds noisily nest together in rookeries in tall trees while an exaltation of larks is a poetic comment on the climb of the skylark high into the sky while uttering its twittering song.
A group of meerkats is called a Mob. Photo by Burrard-Lukas.
Some of my favorites are: a mess of iguanas, a flamboyance of flamingos, a smack of jellyfish and a squabble of seagulls!
A flamboyance of flamingos, showing off their amazing pink hues.
- A cloud of bats
- A grist of bees
- A shrewdness of apes
- A conspiracy of lemurs
- A pandemonium of parrots
- A knot of toads
- An audience of Squid
A volt of vultures. Photo by etravelphotos.
- A murder of crows
- A charm of finches
- A zeal of zebras
- A smack of jellyfish
- A parliament of owls
- A troop of monkeys
- An exaltation of larks
- An unkindness of ravens
- A shiver of sharks
A compact knot of toads. Photo by Allan Harris.
- A flutter of butterflies
- An army of catterpillars
- A seething of eels
- A flamboyance of flamingos
- A business of flies
- A deceit of lapwings
- A tribe of goats
A fever of stingrays! Photo seen here.
- A crash of Rhinoceroses
- A descent of woodpeckers
- A gang of turkeys
- A quiver of cobras
- A mob of kangaroos
- An implausibility of gnus
- An intrusion of Cockroaches
- A bloat of hippopotami
An audience of squid. Photo by Paddy Ryan.
- A flock of lice
- A troupe of shrimps
- A mob of meerkats
- A fever of stingrays
- A rhumba of rattlesnakes
- A clew of worms
- A murmuration of starlings
A beautiful picture showing a smack of jellyfish
- A squabble of seagulls
- A volt of vultures
- A train of camels
- A clowder of cats
- A peep of chickens
- A cackle of hyenas
- A mess of iguanas
A group of hippopotami 
is called a bloat!
A pod of dolphins, photographed from below. (seen here)
An ‘attempted’ murder of crows (this well-known image of an attempted murder is wrong as it’s not crows but ravens!). Photo by me ann my camera.
An amazing photo of a murmuration of starlings after sunset.
You will understand why a group of cockroaches is called an ‘intrusion’!
A grist of bees. Photo by Marko Ćipović
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