There’s a special name for a species of animal, when several individuals of that species form a group. Some of the terms are obscure: a covey of quails, anyone? While others seem to hint at what we think that animal represents, such as a pride of lions. Here are a few unconventional names for collections of animals that may or may not be scientifically accurate.
A Catalog of Collections
a flamboyance of flamingoes
stands perched out in the yard
as a cackle of hyenas
every one of a card
chases a conspiracy of lemurs
a confusion of guinea fowl
attempts to bring a motion before
the parliament of owls
while a troop of monkeys
rides a bask of crocodiles
to where a colony of bats
hangs under a bridge’s piles
where an infamous murder of crows
meets a charm of foxes
and a gang of weasels rides
several yokes of oxes
right into a smack of jellyfish
and a fever of stingrays
like a prickle of porcupines
where bales of turtles graze
and so what to call a group of humans
thinking we’re the master?
from animals’ collective view
we could only be called
a disaster…