Animal Groups

[tinhuviel]

This is from an article in a newspaper from years back.  I'm transcribing it in order to save it, 'cos it's old as hell, and may get lost in the move.
 

SINGULARITIES

by Scott Lafee
Groups of Animals Are Collected into a Knot of Nouns

The language of biological science is rooted in ancient Greek and Latin, in words like Homo sapiens and Tyrannosaurus rex.  If you're a scientist, this makes good sense because both languages are dead (or comatose at least) and not likely to change.  That means scientific words don't become obsolete.  And new ones can be created as needed by stringing together syllables of different, distinct meaning, the result readily deciphered by researchers from Montana to Mongolia.

But let's face it, there's not much fun in saying Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis, the scientific moniker for the green sea urchin.  Plus, it's damned hard to pronounce.

On the other hand, appellations ascribed to groups of animals, as in a pride of lions, are often inspired, if not well-known.  Herewith, a sampling of some of the more obscure names.  Feel free to clip for future reference, trivial pursuits, and games of Scrabble.

BIRDS	MAMMALS
Bitterns - a Sedge Buzzards - a Wake Bobolinks - a Chain Coots - a Cover Cormorants - a Gulp Cranes - a Sedge Crows - a Murder Doves - a Dule, Arc, or Pitying Ducks - a Raft, Paddling, or Badling Eagles - a Convocation or Aerie Emus - a Mob Finches - a Charm Flamingos - a Stand Geese - a Gaggle or Skein Grouse - a Pack Hawks - a Cast, Kettle, or Boil Herons - a Sedge or Siege Jays - a Party or Scold Lapwings - a Deceit Larks - an Exaltation or Ascension  Mallards - a Sord Magpies - a Tiding or Gulp Nightingales - a Watch Owls - a Parliament Parrots - a Company or Pandemonium Partridges - a Covey Peacocks - an Ostentation Pheasants - a Nide, Nye, or Bouquet Plovers - a Congregation Quail - a Bevy Rooks - a Building Ravens - an Unkindness Snipe - a Walk or Wisp Sparrows - a Host Starlings - a Murmuration Storks - a Mustering Swallows - a Flight Swans - a Bevy or Wedge Teal - a Spring Turkeys - a Rafter Widgeons - a Company Woodcocks - a Fall Woodpeckers - Descent	Apes - a Shrewdness Asses - a Pace Badgers - a Cete Bears - a Sloth or Sleuth Buffalo - an Obstinancy Camels - a Caravan Cats - a Clowder or Pounce Cows - a Kine Elephants - a Memory Elk - a Gang Ferrets - a Business Foxes - a Leash or Skulk Giraffes - a Tower Goats -a Tribe Hares - a Down or Husk Hippopotamuses - a Bloat Hyaenas - a Cackle Kangaroos - a Troop Leopards - a Leap Martens - a Richness Moles - a Labour Monkeys - a Barrel Mules - a Span or Barren Otters - a Romp Oxen - a Yoke Pigs - a Drift, Drove, or Sounder Polecats - a Chine Porcupines - a Prickle Possums - a Passel Prairie Dogs - a Coterie Rabbits - a Warren Raccoons - a Gaze Rhinoceroses - a Crash Seals - a Pod Squirrels - a Dray or Scurry Tigers - a Streak or an Ambush Whales - a Gam Wolves - a Rout Wombats - a Wisdom Zebras - a Zeal
INVERTEBRATES	FISH
Ants - a Colony Bees - a Grist or Swarm Butterflies - a Flutter Caterpillars - an Army Cockroaches - an Intrusion Flies - a Business Gnats - a Horde Grasshoppers - a Cloud Jellyfish - a Smack Lice - a Flock Locusts - a Plague Spiders - a Clutter Wasps - a Pladge	Barracuda - a Battery Bass - a Shoal Goldfish - a Cloud Herring - an Army Salmon - a Run Sharks - a Shiver  Trout - a Hover
REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS
Alligators - a Congregation Crocodiles - a Bask or Float Frogs - an Army Lizards - a Lounge  Toads - a Knot Turtles - a Bale or Dole Rattlesnakes - a Rhumba

 

Comments

[thnidu]

Ah, and are you familiar with An Exaltation of Larks?

[tinhuviel]

See above.

[thnidu]

I mean the book, not the expression. See link.

[thnidu]

Oh, and why the "h", Nightingale?

[tinhuviel]

Heheheheh, numerological reasons. ;). Fellow Tolkien fan, I see!

[thnidu]

Indeed, for many, many years.