Names for Groups of Animals and Insects

Nothing is more fascinating than discovering the unique name for a group of animals, amphibians, or insects. These unique words that are used to describe a group of animals are called "collective nouns," and they date back to Medieval times. Discover interesting terms for words like a pandemonium of parrots or a charm of magpies. The variations to these collective nouns will entertain you!

You really never know when this knowledge may come in handy—think trivia night and beyond. Or, you may simple want to wow your biology class or use one of these terms for a description in your latest novel. Happy learning!

Names for Groups of Animals and Insects

• Albatross: a rookery
• Alligators: a congregation
• Apes: a shrewdness or a troop
• Ants: a colony, a swarm, a nest
• Baboons: a troop, a flange
• Bacteria: a colony
• Badgers: a cete, a set, a company
• Bats: a camp, a colony, a cloud
• Bears: a sleuth, a sloth
• Bear cubs: a litter
• Bees: a swarm, a hive, a grist
• Birds: a flock (ground), a wreck (sea)
• Bloodhounds: a sute
• Buffalo: a gang, a troop, or an obstinacy
• Butterflies: a flight, a flutter
• Buzzards: a wake
• Camels: a caravan, a train
• Catterpillars: an army

• Cats: a clowder, a glaring, a nuisance, a clutter
• Kittens: a litter or a kindle
• Wildcats: a destruction
• Chickens: a brood or a peep
• Chinchillas: a colony
• Clams: a bed
• Cobras: a quiver
• Cockroaches: an intrusion
• Cormorants: a gulp
• Crocodiles: a bask
• Coyotes: a band
• Crows: a murder, a hoard, a parcel
• Deer (buck): a brace, a clash
• Dogs: a kennel
• Puppies: a litter
• Dogs: a pack, a cry (hounds), a mute (hounds)
• Dolphins: a pod
• Donkeys: a drove
• Doves: a dole, a paddling
• Eagles: a convocation, an aerie
• Eels: a swarm, a fry
• Elephants: a parade, a memory
• Elk: a gang or a herd

• Falcons: a cast
• Ferrets: a business, a cast
• Fish: a school, a shoal
• Flamingoes: a stand, a flamboyance
• Flies: a business, a swarm, a cloud
• Frogs: an army, a colony
• Fox: a charm, a leash, a troop
• Geese: a gaggle, a flock
• Giraffes: a tower
• Gnats: a swarm, a cloud
• Gorillas: a band, a troop
• Grasshoppers: a cloud
• Greyhounds: a leash
• Guinea fowl: a confusion
• Hawks: a kettle (flight), a boil (spiraling)
• Hippopotamuses: a bloat
• Hornets: a nest, a bike

• Horses: a team, a stable, a rag (colts), a string (ponies), a herd
• Hummingbirds: a charm
• Hyenas: a cackle
• Insects: a nest, a swarm, a plague
• Jaguars: a shadow
• Jellyfish: a smack, a brood
• Kangaroos: a troop or a mob
• Lemurs: a conspiracy
• Leopards: a leap
• Lions: a pride, a troop
• Locusts: a plague
• Magpies: a tiding, a charm, a murder
• Mice: a mischief
• Moles: a labor, a movement
• Monkeys: a barrel or a troop

• Moose: a herd
• Mosquitoes: a scourge
• Mules: a pack, a rake, a span
• Otters: a bevy, a raft, a family, a barren
• Oxen: a team or a yoke
• Owls: a parliament, a stare
• Oysters: a bed
• Parrots: a pendemonium
• Peacocks: a pride, a muster
• Pelicans: a pod
• Pigeons: a flight, a flock
• Pigs: a drift or a drove or a sounder (boars)
• Porcupines: a prickle
• Porpoises: a herd, a pod, a shoal
• Quail: a bevy
• Rabbits: a colony, a warren, a herd (domestic), a litter (young)
• Raccoons: a gaze, a plague
• Rats: a colony, a pack, a swarm
• Rattlesnakes: a rhumba
• Ravens: an unkindness, a storytelling
• Reindeer: a herd
• Rhinoceroses: a crash

• Salamanders: a congress
• Salmon: a run
• Scorpions: a bed, a nest
• Sharks: a shiver, a school
• Sheep: a pack, a flock, a trip
• Snails: a escargatoire, a walk
• Skunk: a stench
• Spiders: a cluster
• Squirrels: a dray, a scurry
• Stingrays: a fever
• Swans: a bevy, a gam, a wedge
• Tigers: an ambush or a streak
• Tigers: a streak, an ambush
• Toads: a knot
• Trout: a hover
• Turkeys: a gang or a rafter
• Turtles: a bale or a nest
• Vultures: a venue, a kettle (circling)
• Weasels: a colony or a gang, or a pack
• Whales: a pod a school or a gam
• Wolves: a pack, a route (in movement)
• Worms: a bed, a bunch
• Zebras: a zeal, a crossing, a dazzle, a herd