Pride and Hide and Sleuth, Oh My!

What do you call a group of lions, tigers, and bears? Pride, hide, and sleuth. But if the tigers are running together instead of hiding in the shadows, you would say streak instead of hide. On the other hand, if you want to convey their intention to jump their prey, you'd say ambush. 

The English language contains some colorful terms of venery, the words that signify collective noun for specific groups of animals. Some animals even have several terms to denote different conditions of the group formation, as is the case not just for tigers but for others in the list below:

Ambush - a group of tigers lying in wait for their prey (also streak and hide) 

Army - group of frogs or ants referencing the way they move (also colony for both and knot for frogs) 

Arrangement - a group of elephant seals (also herd and pack)

Array - a group of hedgehogs 

Badling - a group of ducks (also paddling, plump, raft)

Bale - a group of turtles

Band - a group of gorillas (also shrewdness and troop) or hares (also down, drove, flick, herd,  husk or huske, leap, and trip)  

Bank -  a group of Komodo Dragons also swans when gathered on the ground (see bevy)

Barren - a group of four mules 

Bask - a group of crocodiles 

Ballet - a group of swans when swimming (also bevy, drift, eyrar; the group can also be called a flock, game herd, lamentation, swonder, squadron, team, or whiting; flight when flying and wedge when flying in a V formation) 

Battery - a group of barracudas

Bellowing - a group of bullfinches

Bevy - a group of deer  (also herd, bunch, parcel or rangale)  or swans when swimming (also ballet, drift, eyrar, flock game, herd, lamentation, sownder, squadron, team, and whiting; flight for swans in flight and wedge when flying in V formation)   

Bivouac - a group of butterflies at rest (also kaleidoscope, rabble, flutter)

Bloat - a group of hippopotami (also pod or thunder)  

Brace - a group of birds (also flock, flight, volary), also a pair of hares (for general group of hare: band, down, drove, flick, herd, husk or huske, leap, and trips) 

Bunch - a group of deer (also bevy, herd, parcel rangale) 

Business or Busyness- a group of ferrets (also cast,  pack, feynes,  fesnyng) 

Cackle - a group of hyena (also pack)

Cast - a group of crabs (also consortium) or ferrets (also business, busyness pack, fesynes, fesyny pack) or hawks (also leash for merlins)

Cete - a group of badgers (also clan and colony)

Charm - a group of hummingbirds or finch (also quiver)

Clan - a group of badgers (also cete and colony)

Clattering - a group of jackdaws (also flock)

Clowder - a group of cats (also clutter, pounce and glaring)

Clutter - a group of cats (also clowder, pounce and glaring) 

Coalition - a group of cheetahs

Colony - a group of badgers (also cete and clan), bats, birds (also brace, flight, flock, volary)  rabbits, beavers (also lodge), ants or frogs referencing the way they live in large group

Company- a group of parrots (also pandemonium) 

Confusion  - a group of guineafowl or wildebeests

Congregation - a group of alligators 

Congress - a group of lemur (also conspiracy, plot)

Consortium - a group of crabs (also cast)

Conspiracy - a group of lemur (also congress, plot) and ravens (also  flock,  rave, treachery,  unkindness, and murder --due to the ravens being mistaken for crows)

Convocation - a group of eagles 

Court - a group of kangaroos 

Crash - a group of rhinoceroses (also herd and stubbornness) 

Crowd - a group of porpoises (also gam, herd, pod, school, shoal, turmoil)

Dazzle - a group of zebras (also zeal and herd)

Den - a group of snakes 

Descent - a group of woodpeckers

Dray - a group of squirrels (also scurry) 

Drove - group of cattle or any animals driven or moving in a body also a group of hares (see band)

Escargatoire - a group of snails (also rout, walk)

Fesnyng or fesynes - a group of ferrets (also cast, business, busyness, pack) 

Flamboyance - a group of flamingos (also regiment) 

Flight - a group of birds (also brace, colony, flock, volary, and wedge for swans) 

Flock – a group of birds (also brace, colony,  flight, volary); the word is also applied to small, hooved animals like sheep and goats 

Flutter- a group of butterflies (also bivouac, rabble, kaleidoscope)

Gaggle - a flock of geese

Gam - a group of  whales  or porpoises (also crowd, herd, pod, school, shoal, and  turmoil, which is specific to porpoises)

Gang - a group of elk, buffalo, or turkey (also rafter, posse) 

Harras - a group of horses (also team, stud, rag, string)

Herd – a group of herbivore animals, including elephants (also memory), deer, antelope, and buffalo (also  gang and obstinacy), rhinoceroses (also crash and stubbornness), birds like swans, and sea mammals like porpoises

Hide - a group of tigers hiding in the shadows (also ambush and streak)

Horde - a group of crows (also mob, muster, murder parcel) 

Husk and huske - a group of hares (als0 bando down, drove, flick, herd,  leap, trip and brace for two and leash for three)

Implausibility - a group of gnu

Intrigue - a group of kittens (also kindle and litter)

Kaleidoscope - a group of butterflies (also flutter, bivouac, rabble)

Kennel - group of domestic dogs* 

Kettle - a group of vultures circling in the air, perched in trees or on the ground they're called a venue.

Kindle -  a group of kittens (also intrigue and litter) or hares (also band, down, flick, herd,  husk or huske, leap, and trip)  

Knob - a group of waterfowl

Knot - a group of toads or frogs (also army or colony for frogs)

Labor - a group of moles 

Leap - a group of leopards (also prowl) 

Leash - a group of three hares (also see band and brace)

Litter - a group of mammals born in numbers larger than pairs, including kittens, puppies, rodents, etc. (There are some more specific groups for types like intrigue or kindle for kittens.)

Lodge - a group of beavers (also colony)

Lounge - a group of lizards

Memory - a group of elephants (also herd)

Mess - a group of iguanas

Mob – a group of kangaroos (also troop and court) or crows (also horde, murder muster, parcel)

Muddle - a group of guinea pigs 

Murder - a group of magpies or crows (also horde, mob, muster, or parcel), also applied to ravens who have been mistaken for crows (more precise terms for crows include: conspiracy, flock,  rave,  treachery, and unkindness)

Murmuration - a group of starlings

Mustering  - a group of storks (flight and phalanx terms applied to when they're in flight), crows (also horde, mob, murder or parcel) or peafowl (also ostentation and pride)

Obstinacy - a group of buffalo (also gang)

Ostentation - a group of peafowl AKA peacocks (also mustering and pride)

Pace - a group of asses

Pack –  a group of mules used for transporting goods, hyenas (also cackle, clan), elephant seals (also arrangement and herd),  ferrets (also business, busyiness, fesnyg fesynes), coyotes, wolves, or dogs (also kennel for dogs) 

Paddling - a group of ducks (also badling, plump, raft)

Pandemonium - a group of parrots (also company) 

Parcel - a small group of deer (also see bevy, bunch herd, rangale) or or crows (also horde, mob, muster) 

 Parliament - a group of owls 

 Passel - a group of of opossums 

 Phalanx - a group of storks 

 Plump-  a group of ducks (also badling, paddling, raft)

 Plot - a group of lemur (also conspiracy, congress)

 Pod - a group of porpoises (also gam, crowd, herd,  school, shoal, turmoil) whales, dolphins, seals, or hippopotami (also boat or thunder) 

 Posse - a group of turkeys (also rafter, gang) and fireflies (also sparkle)

 Pounce - a group of cats (also clowder) 

 Prickle - a group of porcupines

 Pride - a group of lions, cheetahs, or peafowl AKA peacocks (also muster ingand   ostentation) 

 Prowl - a group of leopards (also leap) 

 Quiver - a group of finch (also charm) cobras (related: den)

 Rabble - a group of butterflies (also kaleidoscope, bivouac, flutter)

 Raft - a group of otters or ducks (also badling, paddling, plumb)

 Rafter - a group of turkeys (also posse, gang) 

 Rag - a group of horses (also team, harras, stud, string) 

 Rave-  a group of ravens (also conspiracy, flock, treachery,  unkindness, and   murder --due to the ravens being mistaken for crows)

 Rake - a group of three mules   

 Rangale - the rank and file, a term which also applies to the members of a group   of deer in contradistinction to the Alpha leaders of the group 

 Regiment - a group of flamingos (also flamboyance)

 Richness - a group of martens 

 Romp - a group of otters 

 Scurry - a group of squirrels 

 Sedge, Sege, or Siege - a group of heron

 Shadow - a group of jaguars 

 Shoal or school  – a group of fish and some sea mammals like purpoises 

 Shrewdness - a group of apes, gorillas (also band and troop)

 Skulk - a group of foxes (also earth to describe a mother fox with her kits)

 Sleuth - a group of bears Smack - a group of jellyfish (also brood)

Span - two mules 

Sparkle - a group of fireflies (also posse) 

 Streak - a group of tigers running together (also ambush,     hide)

 String - a group of horses (also team, harras, stud, rag) 

 Stubbornness - a group of rhinoceroses (also crash and herd) 

 Surfeit - a group of skunks 

 Swarm - a group of insects 

 Team - a group of horses  (also harras, stud, rag, string) 

 Thunder - a group of hippopotami (also bloat, pod) 

 Tower - a group of giraffes 

 Treachery - a group of ravens (also conspiracy, flock,  rave,   unkindness  and  murder --due to the ravens being mistaken for crows)

 Troop - a group of kangaroos or apes (also band,  shrewdness)  

 Troupe – a group of monkeys 

 Turmoil- a group of porpoises (also gam, crowd, herd, pod, school, shoa )

 Unkindness - a group of ravens (also conspiracy, flock,  rave,  treachery, and     murder --due to the ravens being mistaken for crows)

 Venue - a group of vultures in a perched state; in flight they're called a kettle.

  Volary - a group of birds (also also brace, colony, flock, flight) 

  Wisdom - a group of wombats

  Zeal - a group of zebras (also dazzle and herd)

 

How many of these did you already know? Which ones were new to you?  Any favorites among the group?

*f you want to use a collective noun for a specific breed of domestic dog, see this list: ARF! Kennel Club Accepted Collective Nouns From the ARF! Newsletter, Fall 1995