Study Resource: Collective nouns for animals

The following are collective nouns used for groups of animals of different types:

• Collective nouns that can be used for any group of made from the right kind of animal:

  Collective noun(s)	Animal	Example
  herd	large grazing animals	a herd of antelope a herd of deer a herd of caribou a herd of buffalo a herd of cattle a herd of bison a herd of elephants a herd of rhinos
  flock	sheep	a flock of sheep
  	birds – usually small birds	a flock of sparrows a flock of crows
  murder / mob	crows	a murder of crows a mob of crows
  gaggle	geese	a gaggle of geese
  murmuration	starlings	a murmuration of starlings
  school	fish	a school of minnows a school of sharks
  pod	dolphins and whales	a pod of dolphins a pod of killer whales
  band, troop	monkeys and apes	a troop of monkeys a band of gorillas
  pride	lions	a pride of lions
  pack	dogs (including wild dogs)	a pack of dogs a pack of wolves a pack of coyotes

  Some lists will include more “poetic” collective nouns for animals (e.g. a zeal of zebras), but these are usually only used in wordplay or poetry.

• Collective nouns that describe the shape, size, or behavior of a group of animals. These words are only used for special kinds of groups:

  • swarm → any large group of small annoying animals move chaotically (often flying animals, but sometimes also small ground animals)

    • a swarm of bees

    • a swarm of bats

    • a swarm of children

    • a swarm of blackbirds

    • a swarm of ants

    • a swarm of rats

  • cloud→ a group of small, flying animals that looks like a cloud from a distance

    • a cloud of gnats

    • a cloud of bats

    • a cloud of mayflies

  • kettle / column→ a group of birds or fish that move in a column or spiral

    • a kettle of vultures

    • a kettle of hawks

    • a kettle of sardines→ usually we use school for fish instead

• Sometimes we use a word for an animal’s “family” to refer to all of the animals in that “family.”

  • colony→ used for a group of animals that live together and raise their babies in a large group.

    • a colony of… ants / bees / bats / penguins / seals / puffins / prairie dogs / meerkats / rats / mice / swallows / …

  • litter→ used for baby mammals that share a mother.

    • a litter of… puppies / kittens / bunnies / mice / squirrels / …

  • brood→ used for a group of baby animals that hatched from eggs at the same time.

    • a brood of… baby alligators / sparrows / snakes / baby dinosaurs / …

• Sometimes we can use a name for an animal’s “house” to refer to all of the animals that live in that “house.” Some of these words are very specific, for example:

  • bed → an area where shellfish live in the mud, usually oysters or clams. This can also refer to the shellfish that live in a bed.

  • warren → a warren is the network of tunnels that rabbits build, but can also refer to the rabbits that live in the warren.→ You’ll hear this word a lot if you read the book Watership Down!)

  • hive → A hive is the house that a group of bees or wasps build, so we only use this to refer to groups of bees and wasps

  • nest → we use this to refer to a group of snakes that live in the same burrow

    Lots of animals have nests, but usually we only use nest as a collective noun to talk about snakes.