Names for Groups of Animals

Have you ever wondered what to call a group of animals? Sure you may know a group of deer is called a herd, or a group of birds is called a flock, but what do call a group of rhinoceroses or porcupines? Let's find out!

Animal Group Names

Antelope: a herd

Ants: a colony or an army

Apes: a shrewdness

Baboons: a troop

Badgers: a cete

Bass: a shoal

Bats: a colony, cloud or cauldron

Bears: a sloth or sleuth; Cubs: a litter

Beavers: a colony

Bees: a swarm

Boar: a sounder

Buffalo: a gang or obstinacy

Camels: a caravan

Caterpillars: an army

Cats: a clowder, glaring, pounce, nuisance or clutter; Kittens: a litter or kindle; Wild cats: a destruction

Cattle: a herd or drove

Cheetahs: a coalition

Chickens: a brood or peep; Chicks: a clutch or chattering

Clams: a bed

Cobras: a quiver

Colts: a rag

Cows: a kine, drove, herd or fold; twelve or more cows are a flink

Coyotes: a band

Cranes: a sedge

Crocodiles: a float or bask

Crows: a murder

Deer: a herd

Dogs: a pack or cowardice; Puppies: a litter

Dolphins: a pod

Donkeys: a drove

Doves: a dule

Ducks: a brace, paddling or team

Eagles: a convocation

Elephants: a herd or parade

Elk: a gang or herd

Emus: a mob

Falcons: a cast

Ferrets: a business or fesnyng

Finches: a charm

Fish: a school, shoal, run, haul or catch

Flamingos: a stand or flamboyance

Flies: a swarm, hatch or business

Foxes: a skulk or leash

Frogs: an army or a colony

Geese: a gaggle or flock, a skein when in flight

Giraffes: a tower

Gnats: a cloud or horde

Goats: a herd, tribe or trip

Goldfinches: a charm

Goldfish: a troubling

Gorillas: a band

Grasshoppers: a cloud

Greyhounds: a leach

Hares: a down or husk

Hawks: a cast or kettle

Hippopotami: a bloat or thunder

Hogs: a drift or parcel

Horses: a team or harras

Hounds: a pack, mute or cry

Hyenas: a cackle

Jaguars: a shadow

Jellyfish: a smack or brood

Kangaroos: a troop or mob

Larks: an ascension or exaltation

Lemurs: a conspiracy

Leopards: a leap

Lice: a flock

Lions: a pride

Locust: a plague or cloud

Magpies: a tiding or tittering

Mallards: a sord

Manatees: an aggregation

Mares: a stud

Martens: a richness

Minnows: a steam

Moles: a labor

Monkeys: a barrel, cartload or troop

Mules: a pack, barren or span

Nightingales: a watch

Otters: a family, romp or raft

Owls: a parliament

Oxen: a team or yoke

Oysters: a bed

Parrots: a pandemonium or company

Partridges: a covey

Peacocks: a muster or ostentation

Penguins: a colony

Pheasants: a nest, nide or bouquet

Pigeons: a flock or flights

Pigs: a drift or drove (younger pigs), or a sounder, litter or team (older pigs)

Ponies: a string

Porcupines: a prickle

Rabbits: a colony or warren

Raccoons: a gaze

Rats: a colony, pack, swarm or mischief

Rattlesnakes: a rhumba

Ravens: an unkindness

Rhinoceroses: a crash

Sharks: a shiver

Sheep: a drove or flock

Skunks: a stench

Snakes: a nest or knot

Sparrows: a host

Squirrels: a dray or scurry

Starlings: a murmuration

Stingrays: a fever

Storks: a mustering

Swans: a bevy or lamentation, a wedge when in flight 

Tigers: an ambush or a streak

Toads: a knot or knab

Trout: a hover

Turkeys: a gang, posse or rafter

Turtles: a bale or nest

Vultures: a venue

Wasps: a pledge

Weasels: a colony, gang or pack

Whales: a pod, school or gam

Wolves: a pack or route

Wombats: a wisdom

Woodpeckers: a descent

Zebras: a zeal

Library Resources

Explore more through the library with lists, blogs, storytime videos and more about animals.

Create Your Own!

Do you have an idea for a group of animals not listed above? An axle of axolotls or a motherload of moths perhaps? Share your ideas in the comments below!