{"id":108,"date":"2021-12-07T12:00:38","date_gmt":"2021-12-07T11:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=50097"},"modified":"2021-12-07T12:23:14","modified_gmt":"2021-12-07T11:23:14","slug":"animal-collective-nouns","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/animal-collective-nouns\/","title":{"rendered":"Animal collective nouns"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Adam Jacot de Boinod\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 07 December 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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You may have heard of \u2018a school of fish\u2019, \u2018a pride of lions\u2019 or \u2018a pack of wolves\u2019, but have you ever heard of\u00a0\u2018a shrewdness of apes\u2019 or \u2018a confusion of wildebeest\u2019? In this article, author and investigator of interesting words Adam Jacot de Boinod takes a look at some of the more unfamiliar animal collective nouns.<\/p>\n

What is a collective noun?<\/h2>\n

A collective noun is a countable noun that refers to a group of people or things. There are various animal collective nouns that you\u2019re probably already familiar with such as \u2018a flock of sheep\u2019 or \u2018swarm of bees\u2019, but there are also an astonishing number of intriguing animal collective nouns that you may not have heard of before.<\/p>\n

Collective nouns for different groups of animals:<\/h2>\n

A murder of crows<\/h3>\n
\""Crows\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Crows gather in a public park. \u00a9 P Derrett\/iStock\/Getty<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The term \u2018a murder of crows\u2019 probably derives from 15th-century peasants\u2019 fears that these sinister-looking birds, with dark feathers and jet-black eyes, were witches in disguise or messengers of the Devil. They descended onto battlefields to pick at the fallen and, with their alleged prophetic powers, they appeared on roofs to portend that someone inside would soon die. Their other collective nouns include \u2018mob\u2019, \u2018parcel\u2019 and \u2018horde\u2019.<\/p>\n

A confusion of wildebeest<\/h3>\n
\""A\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Wildebeest follow the seasonal rains. \u00a9\u00a0Lennart van den Berg\/Getty<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The term \u2018a confusion of wildebeest\u2019 is so-called from the noise and disorientation of these animals when they gather for their giant migration, when around two million of them unite to search for greener areas. In the process many die in stampedes, which typically feature 500 wildebeest travelling at speeds of up to 50mph and which can last for 30 minutes: chaos ensues when they dash through treacherous waters, as they fall prey to predators.<\/p>\n

A gaggle of geese<\/h3>\n
\""Geese\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Geese gather on a grassy field. \u00a9 Dave Smith\/EyeEm\/Getty<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The term \u2018a gaggle of geese\u2019 has been so-called since the 15th century because when they get together they get quite noisy and rowdy. It\u2019s only when they\u2019re on the ground that they come in \u2018gaggles\u2019; their other collective nouns depend on whether they\u2019ve gathered on water \u2018plump\u2019 or flying (\u2018skein\u2019, \u2018team\u2019 or \u2018wedge\u2019): the latter two reflecting their graceful travelling en masse.<\/p>\n

A bloat of hippopotamuses<\/h3>\n
\""Hippos,\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Hippos, Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo. \u00a9\u00a0DeAgostini\/Getty<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The term \u2018a bloat of hippopotamuses\u2019, coined in 1939, comes from their large, indeed bloated bellies; a male hippo weighs around 8,000lb and is covered in subcutaneous fat that helps him float. Their stomachs are typically bloated from a diet almost exclusively of grass which they ingest and store for up to three weeks. A typical \u2018bloat\u2019 would consist of one male hippo amongst 10-20 females.<\/p>\n

A shrewdness of apes\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\""Mountain\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Mountain gorillas resting in Virunga Mountains, Rwanda. \u00a9 Alamy<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The term \u2018a shrewdness of apes\u2019 was coined in 1486, at a time when scientists wouldn\u2019t have attributed to apes the cognitive ability we now recognise in their brains and habits. \u2018Shrewdness\u2019 around the time of the 15th century meant wickedness and came from a sense of playfulness and mischief. However, today it denotes intelligence and astuteness. So, by a stroke of linguistic luck, the phrase has maintained its currency.<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n

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By Adam Jacot de Boinod Published: Tuesday, 07 December 2021 at 12:00 am You may have heard of \u2018a school of fish\u2019, \u2018a pride of lions\u2019 or \u2018a pack of wolves\u2019, but have you ever heard of\u00a0\u2018a shrewdness of apes\u2019 or \u2018a confusion of wildebeest\u2019? In this article, author and investigator of interesting words Adam […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":109,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/12\/animal-collective-nouns.jpg",2215,1437,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/12\/animal-collective-nouns-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/12\/animal-collective-nouns-300x195.jpg",300,195,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/12\/animal-collective-nouns-768x498.jpg",768,498,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/12\/animal-collective-nouns-1024x664.jpg",800,519,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/12\/animal-collective-nouns-1536x996.jpg",1536,996,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2021\/12\/animal-collective-nouns-2048x1329.jpg",2048,1329,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Adam Jacot de Boinod Published: Tuesday, 07 December 2021 at 12:00 am You may have heard of \u2018a school of fish\u2019, \u2018a pride of lions\u2019 or \u2018a pack of wolves\u2019, but have you ever heard of\u00a0\u2018a shrewdness of apes\u2019 or \u2018a confusion of wildebeest\u2019? In this article, author and investigator of interesting words Adam…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/108"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}