Oddly Enough (Odd facts, true stories, & delightful discoveries): A Wisdom of Wombats

The wild world of collective animal names

Most of us know a group of cows is called a herd and a group of lions is called a pride — but the animal kingdom has some much stranger names hiding in plain sight. A group of pandas can be called an embarrassment, while a group of crows is famously known as a murder. You might also hear of a parliament of owls, a business of ferrets, a bloat of hippos, a prickle of porcupines, or a tower of giraffes.

And it gets even better. A group of flamingos can be called a flamboyance, a group of rhinos is sometimes called a crash, and a group of alligators may be called a congregation. There is also a mob of kangaroos, a coalition of cheetahs, a wisdom of wombats, a charm of hummingbirds, a kaleidoscope of butterflies, a shiver of sharks, a smack of jellyfish, a barrel of monkeys, and a zeal of zebras. Even frogs get in on the fun with an army, while ravens may gather in an unkindness.

Many of these unusual names come from old hunting traditions, folklore, or just the playful way people described animal behavior. Some are poetic, some are funny, and some sound downright suspicious. Either way, they make a great reminder that language can be just as wild as nature itself.

More delightful collective animal nouns include a convocation of eagles, gaggle (on the ground) or flock (in flight) of geese, ostentation of peacocks, murmuration of starlings, charm of goldfinches, pod of whales, romp of otters, skulk of foxes, shrewdness of apes, scurry of squirrels, sleuth of bears, loveliness of ladybugs, school of fish, fever of stingrays, clowder of cats, knot of frogs, rafter of turkeys, descension of woodpeckers, battery of barracudas, ambush of tigers, harem of seals, conspiracy of lemurs, consortium of crabs, coalition of cheetahs, mischief of mice, ballet of swans, pandemonium of parrots.