3/10/2024 0 Comments List of animal collective nouns![]() What is a group of woodpeckers called? Green woodpeckers will typically only drill a nesting hole in trees with soft wood. Their other collective nouns include crowd, bloom, brood, stuck, smuth, swarm, fluther and smack. They often become stranded together on beaches where they dry out and die. ‘Smuck’, like a plastic bag full of water being popped. The term ‘a smuck of jellyfish’ is most likely to have come from simple onomatopoeia, derived from the sound, like a noisy kiss, a stranded jellyfish makes when it’s stepped on. What is a group of jellyfish called? Jellyfish in a lake, Palau Micronesia. Owls are thought to be wise ever since the Ancient Greeks depicted the birds accompanying and representing Athena, the goddess of wisdom. Lewis adapts Chaucer with a council of owls who meet to discuss the affairs of Narnia. It’s a reference to Chaucer’s poem The Parliament of Fowls, where the world’s birds gather to find a mate. The term ‘a parliament of owls’ comes from The Chronicles of Narnia novels, written by C S Lewis in 1950s. Orangutan guide: species facts, diet and best places to seeġ6 amazing chimpanzee facts What is a group of owls called? A family of burrowing owls in Florida, USA. Gorilla guide: where they live, diet, and conservation So, by a stroke of linguistic luck, the phrase has maintained its currency. However, today it denotes intelligence and astuteness. ‘Shrewdness’ around the time of the 15th century meant wickedness and came from a sense of playfulness and mischief. The term ‘a shrewdness of apes’ was coined in 1486, at a time when scientists wouldn’t have attributed to apes the cognitive ability we now recognise in their brains and habits. What is a group of apes called? Mountain gorillas resting in Virunga Mountains, Rwanda. A typical ‘bloat’ would consist of one male hippo amongst 10-20 females. Their stomachs are typically bloated from a diet almost exclusively of grass which they ingest and store for up to three weeks. The term ‘a bloat of hippopotamuses’, 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. What is a group of hippos called? Hippos, Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It’s only when they’re on the ground that they come in ‘gaggles’ their other collective nouns depend on whether they’ve gathered on water ‘plump’ or flying (‘skein’, ‘team’ or ‘wedge’): the latter two reflecting their graceful travelling en masse. The term ‘a gaggle of geese’ has been so-called since the 15th century because when they get together they get quite noisy and rowdy. What is a group of geese called? Geese gather on a grassy field. 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. The term ‘a confusion of wildebeest’ 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. What is a group of wildebeest called? Wildebeest follow the seasonal rains. Their other collective nouns include ‘mob’, ‘parcel’ and ‘horde’. 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. The term ‘a murder of crows’ probably derives from 15th-century peasants’ fears that these sinister-looking birds, with dark feathers and jet-black eyes, were witches in disguise or messengers of the Devil. Collective nouns for different groups of animals: What is a group of crows called? Crows gather in a public park. There are various animal collective nouns that you're probably already familiar with such as ‘a flock of sheep’ or ‘swarm of bees’, but there are also an astonishing number of intriguing animal collective nouns that you may not have heard of before. What is a collective noun?Ī collective noun is a countable noun that refers to a group of people or things. You may have heard of ‘a school of fish’, ‘a pride of lions’ or ‘a pack of wolves’, but have you ever come across ‘a shrewdness of apes’ or ‘a confusion of wildebeest’? In this article, author and investigator of languages and interesting words Adam Jacot de Boinod takes a look at some of the more unfamiliar animal collective nouns.
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