Quiz Time!

Quiz time, girls!

This is a fun one.

We’re all familiar with common collective nouns that describe groups of animals.

Examples: pride of lions, herd of horses, flock of birds.

Formation_flight

Photo by Kumon via Wikimedia Commons

 

But, there are dozens more descriptors out there that most of us have never heard.

A congress of baboons?

Well, now …

if the shoe fits!

320px-Descriptive_Zoopraxography_Baboon_Walking_Animated_13

Animated image by Edward James Muggeridge via Wikimedia Commons

 

Seriously, though, I wonder how many of the following you can match up. I’ll list the group names first and the animals below. In some cases, you’ll find that the group name stems from a species’ behavior; in others, alliteration is at work. Of course, some seem to make no sense at all.

800px-Gorilla_Scratching_Head

Photo by Steven Straiton via Wikimedia Commons

The answers are at the bottom of this post, so don’t peek until you’re sufficiently stumped!

Group Names:

  1. ambush
  2. charm
  3. clowder
  4. crash
  5. descent
  6. grist
  7. hurtle
  8. implausibility
  9. kine (hint: you may have seen this in a previous entry)
  10. knot
  11. memory
  12. mischief
  13. ostentation
  14. rabble
  15. shiver
  16. shrewdness
  17. sleuth
  18. sneak
  19. storytelling
  20. zeal

Animals:

  1. apes
  2. bears
  3. bees
  4. butterflies
  5. cats
  6. cattle
  7. crows (or ravens)
  8. elephants
  9. wildebeest
  10. hippopotami
  11. zebras
  12. woodpeckers
  13. weasels
  14. toads
  15. tigers
  16. peacocks
  17. sheep
  18. sharks
  19. mice
  20. hummingbirds

 

Answers:

hurtle of sheep

mischief of mice

sleuth of bears

kine of cattle

storytelling of crows

memory of elephants

shiver of sharks

implausibility of wildebeest

crash of hippopotami

zeal of zebras

shrewdness of apes

grist of bees

clowder of cats

descent of woodpeckers

sneak of weasels

knot of toads

rabble of butterflies

ambush of tigers

ostentation of peacocks

charm of hummingbirds

 

  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    These are great and I have never heard the terms used before. My favorites are a sneak of weasels and a knot of toads! This was fun to try and figure out and quite interesting to learn for an early morning lesson over coffee.

  2. Karlyne says:

    Too funny! The only one I was positive about was the kine of cattle!

  3. Daniele says:

    That’s pretty cool- I’ve never half of those before now…

  4. CATHY L ROHLOFF says:

    I thought I had a good grasp of the English language until this quiz!

  5. Adrienne Kristine says:

    My favorite is a raft of otters. I adopt a sea otter every year to support the Marine Mammal Center in northern California.

  6. Deborah Brazil says:

    I had never heard of most of these however, my history told me it was a “murder of crows” instead of a ‘storytelling’. I did know a congress of baboons though. As you say, If the shoe fits.

  7. J Bailey says:

    I give ! And I thought I was smart. Haha thanks for making me more humble. Grr, it hurts to say it.

  8. Brenda Wheeler says:

    I never would have figured this one out. Thanks for increasing our knowledge!

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