Living in the wild is dangerous, and that is why animals gather together in groups. When they are in groups, they have names that describe their teams that somehow sound silly or weird to us. The thing is that not all animal group names are in common use among people or even scientists. However, at least we should know more about their names so that we can describe them better in speech or writing. Below, we have categorized animals into different types so that it is easier to know what name belongs to which category.
1Birds
image: Wikimedia Commons
- Bitterns: a sedge
- Buzzards: a wake
- Bobolinks: a chain
- Coots: a cover
- Cormorants: a gulp
- Crows: a murder, a horde
- Dotterel: a trip
- Doves: a dule, a pittying (total doves)
- Ducks: a brace, a team, a flock (in flight), a raft (on water), a paddling, a badling
- Eagles: a convocation
- Falcons: a cast
- Finches: a charm
- Flamingos: a stand
- Geese: a flock, a gaggle (on ground), a skein (in flight)
- Grouse: a pack
- Hawks: a cast, a kettle (in flight), a boil (two or more spiraling in the air)
- Herons: a sedge, a siege
- Jays: a party, a scold
- Lapwings: a deceit
- Larks: an exaltation
- Mallards: a sord (in flight), a brace
- Magpies: a tiding, a gulp, a murder, a charm
- Nightingales: a watch
- Owls: a parliament
- Parrots: a pandemonium, a company
- Partridge: a covey
- Peafowl: an ostentation or muster
- Penguins: a colony, a muster, a parcel, a rookery
- Pheasant: a nest, a nide, a bouquet
- Plovers: a congregation, a wing (in flight)
- Ptarmigans: a covey
- Rooks: a building
- Quail: a bevy, a covey
- Ravens: an unkindness
- Snipe: a walk, a wisp
- Sparrows: a host
- Starlings: a murmuration
- Storks: a mustering
- Swans: a bevy, a game, a wedge (in flight)
- Teal: a spring
- Turkeys: a rafter, a gang
- Vultures: a venue, a kettle (circling)
- Woodcocks: a fall
- Woodpeckers: a descent
2Fish
image: Mike Johnston
- Fish in general: a draft, a nest, a run, a school, a shoal
- Herring: an army
- Sharks: a shiver
- Stingrays: a fever
- Trout: a hover
3Invertebrates
image: University of Florida
- Ants: a colony, an army, a swarm, a nest
- Bees: a grist, a hive, a swarm
- Caterpillars: an army
- Clams: a bed
- Crabs: a consortium
- Cockroaches: an intrusion
- Flies: a business
- Grasshoppers: a cloud
- Iguanas: a slaughter
- Jellyfish: a bloom, a fluther, a smack
- Lobsters: a risk
- Oysters: a bed
- Snails: a hood
- Squid: an audience
4Mammals & Marsupials
image: Max Pixel
- Apes: a shrewdness
- Badgers: a cete
- Bats: a cauldron
- Bears: a sloth, a sleuth, a litter (cubs)
- Buffalo: a gang or an obstinacy
- Camels: a caravan, a train, a flock
- Cats: a clowder, a pounce, a glaring
- Dogs: a litter (puppies), a pack (wild), a cowardice (curs)
- Donkeys: a pace
- Elephants: a parade
- Elk: a gang
- Ferrets: a business
- Fox: a lease, a skulk, an earth
- Giraffes: a tower
- Goats: a tribe, a trip
- Gorillas: a band
- Hippopotamuses: a bloat, a thunder
- Hyenas: a cackle
- Jaguars: a shadow
- Kangaroos: a troop, a mob
- Kittens: a kindle, a litter, an intrigue
- Lemurs: a conspiracy
- Leopards: a leap
- Lions: a pride, a sawt
- Martens: a richness
- Moles: a labor
- Monkeys: a troop, a barrel
- Mules: a pack, a span, a barren
- Otters: a romp
- Pigs: a drift, a drove, a sounder, a team, a passel
- Porcupines: a prickle
- Porpoises: a pod, a school, a head, a turmoil
- Rabbits: a colony, a warren, a nest, a down, a husk, a herd (domestic only)
- Rhinoceroses: a crash
- Squirrels: a dray, a scurry
- Tigers: an ambush, a streak
- Whales: a pod, a gam, a herd
- Wolves: a pack, a route
5Reptiles & Amphibians
image: rawpixels
- Cobras: a quiver
- Crocodiles: a bask
- Frogs: an army
- Lizards: a lounge
- Rattlesnakes: a rhumba
- Toads: a knot
- Turtles: a bale, a nest
- Salamanders: a maelstrom
- Snakes / Vipers: a nest
Related Post: Fascinating Dolphin Facts
