Walking home from school the other day, Tee asked me if fish went to school too. I thought I would be funny and tell her, “Yes! Fish swim in schools all day long!” Then I had to explain that a school is the special name for a group of fish.
What ensued was a lengthy question and answer period about names for various groups of animals. A pride of lions, a herd of cows, and a murder of crows I already knew, but when it started to get a little out there, “Mommy, what do you call a group of zebras?” I had to ask Uncle Google for help.
If you have a curious little one like mine (or if you’ve ever wondered yourself), I thought it would be fun to share some of the weird, interesting, and surprisingly appropriate names I found.
A congregation of alligators
A shrewdness of apes
A cloud of bats
A sloth (or sleuth) of bears
A flutter of butterflies
A wake of buzzards
A caravan of camels
A clowder of cats
A quiver of cobras
An intrusion of cockroaches (Eww!)
A convocation of eagles
A business of ferrets
A skulk of foxes
A tower of giraffes (That one just makes me smile.)
A bloat of hippos
A cackle of hyenas (That one’s a no brainer.)
A prowl of jaguars
A bloom of jellyfish
A troop of kangaroos
An exaltation of larks
A leap of leopards
A consortium of octopi
A parliament of owls (I can just imagine them sitting around wisely discussing statesmanship.)
A waddle of penguins (on land) or a raft of penguins at sea
A drift of pigs
A prickle of porcupines (How appropriate!)
An unkindness of ravens
A crash of rhinoceroses
A shoal of seahorses
A murmuration of starlings
A streak of tigers
A knot of toads
A sneak of weasels
And those zebras? Turns out a group of zebras is called a zeal or a dazzle. Neat!
“Mexican free-tailed bats exiting Bracken Bat Cave” by USFWS/Ann Froschauer is licensed under CC BY 2.0
“Giraffe at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo” by Barbara Samuel is licensed under CC BY 2.0
“Penguin Group Small” by Antarctica Bound is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
“Zebras in der Serengeti” by Birger Kühnel is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
HOw cool and HOW weird! I honestly can say I didn’t know the majority of those 🙂
amazing how kids can make you feel so clever one minute and downright unknowledgeable the next! I hadn’t heard of the majority of these but there again when do I come across a dazzle of zebras?
I had never heard most of these! Wow, you learn something new every day.
The one that freaks me out a little is what a group of crows is called…A murder of crows!
A consortium of octopi?? Sounds like serious business. Loved reading this!!!!
Thanks for sharing: I learned something today!
This is so random and awesome! I love it! A wake of buzzards – how appropriate. haha.
Yeah, a BLOAT of hippos!
Yeah, a BLOAT of hippos! So amazing
*Murder of crows
*congress of baboons
I never knew that a group of zebras where called a zeal or a dazzle
A murder of crows
Great info…….you left one out though- no worries. I heard this at a trivia contest at a resort in Orlando.
What’s a group of crows ? A murder.
You might read the article Chris.
Thanks. I’m on the final edit of a novel and knew a herd of zebras couldn’t be right.
“A consortium of octopi”
I would definitely call them octopuses, not “octopi”.
You might read the article Chris.