A grumble of pugs, an embarrassment of pandas, a kindle of kittens! The A Compendium of Collective Nouns by Woop Studios offers the accurate but wild word for every animal pack under the sun. Here's our guide to remembering which is which.
27 Hilarious (but Totally Real) Names for Groups of Animals
1
/
27
A Grumble of Pugs
How to remember: “I hate work,” one pug grumbled to the grumble of pugs. “The boss treats us like dogs.”
2
/
27
A Kindle of Kittens
How to remember: Our daughter browsed LOLCats on her tablet, cooing over a kindle of kittens on her Kindle.
3
/
27
An Embarrassment of Pandas
How to remember: The newlywed embarrassment of pandas could not mate on command—much to their embarrassment.
4
/
27
A Congress of Baboons
How to remember: Q: What’s the difference between the U.S. Congress and a congress of baboons? A: One is a pack of rowdy primates—and the other is a group of baboons. (Hey-oh!) You’ll love these cute photos of baby wild animals.
5
/
27
A Prickle of Hedgehogs
How to remember: Snoozing in the sun, I woke to a prickle on my cheek—it was a prickle of hedgehogs scampering all over my face. Come on—who doesn’t love cute hedgehog pictures?
6
/
27
A Bloat of Hippopotamuses
How to remember: The bloat of hippopotamuses felt bloated after lunch, but thankfully it was a short walk back to the swamp from the drive-through.
7
/
27
A Mischief of Mice
How to remember: A mischief of mice discussed how they might scam more cheese. “What if we pretend to be blind?” one said, mischievously. Check out these animals who actually have superpowers.
8
/
27
A Dropping of Ducks
How to remember: After slipping in a puddle of duck droppings, Father angrily stormed around looking for the dropping of ducks that dropped it.
9
/
27
A Waddle of Penguins
How to remember: After he ate all of his krill, the penguin waddled back to the waddle of penguins to try to score some more.
10
/
27
A Memory of Elephants
How to remember: They say an elephant never forgets. But a memory of elephants never forgets to smell awful. Here are 11 wild animal species you never knew were endangered.
11
/
27
A Flamboyance of Flamingos
How to remember: Flamboyantly, the flamboyance of flamingos fluttered into the fairgrounds, flopping their feet and flipping their feathers.
12
/
27
A Bouquet of Hummingbirds
How to remember: My wife thought she was getting a bouquet of flowers for Valentine’s Day, but I’m much more creative than that. When she unwrapped her gift—boom!—a bouquet of hummingbirds. Nailed it.
13
/
27
A Whoop of Gorillas
How to remember: Our seats were right on the fifty-yard line, but unfortunately we were near an annoying whoop of gorillas whooping for the other team.
14
/
27
A Dazzle of Zebras
How to remember: “Dazzle me!” Britney told the dazzle of zebra dancers as they unpacked their sequins and clomped on the stage behind her. These are 12 of the smartest animals in the world.
15
/
27
A Raft of Otters
How to remember: We were rafting downriver when a raft of otters capsized our boat. “You otter know we don’t take kindly to strangers,” their tiny chief barked at us. Even while wet, it was hard not to laugh.
16
/
27
A Concerto of Crickets
How to remember: It was a beautiful July night, perfect for a concert by a concerto of crickets. Unfortunately, they were too tiny to lift their heavy instruments, so we demanded our money back.
17
/
27
A Blessing of Unicorns
How to remember: A blessing of unicorns pranced across the rainbow, until one sneezed pixie dust all over his friends. “Bless you,” the blessing brayed. Don’t miss these weird animals you won’t believe are real.
18
/
27
A Wisdom of Wombats
How to remember: I once stumbled upon a whole wisdom of wombats in the woods. They were quietly puffing on homemade corncob pipes and discussing Walden.
19
/
27
An Aurora of Polar Bears
How to remember: We weren’t able to see the aurora borealis in Alaska, but at dawn, an aurora of polar bears gave us a kiss good morning. So that was almost as special.
20
/
27
A Scurry of Squirrels
How to remember: First, just the one squirrel scurried onto our blanket. But then an entire scurry of squirrels scurried up to us. We never got to finish our picnic because we ran away. These are 10 of the oldest living animals in the entire world.
21
/
27
A Husk of Hares
How to remember: The husk of hares ate corn husks at dusk, wondering whether a colony of rabbits would join them. If you love bunnies, check out these cute bunny pictures ASAP.
22
/
27
A Troubling of Goldfish
How to remember: Upon learning his species had an average attention span of eight seconds, the troubled goldfish returned to his troubling of goldfish, only to forget what he was troubled about. Don’t miss these 11 animals with silly (but totally real) names.
23
/
27
A Journey of Giraffe
How to remember: If giraffes are journeying across the land together, they are called a journey of giraffe. Once they reach their destination and stand still, observing the surroundings they tower over, they become a tower of giraffe.
24
/
27
A Cackle of Hyenas
How to remember: A cackle of hyenas will always cackle until a lion approaches—especially if that lion is named Scar or Mufasa.
25
/
27
A Walk of Snails
How to remember: No matter how slow you walk, you will always walk faster than a walk of snails. Here are 11 more animals with surprisingly misleading names.
26
/
27
A Rhumba of Rattlesnakes
How to remember: Once Rue turned on the rumba radio station, the whole rhumba of rattlesnakes started dancing the rhumba with their Roomba Robot.
27
/
27
A Stubbornness (or Crash) of Rhinoceroses
How to remember: The stubborn stubbornness of rhinos wouldn’t move out of the way, so it crashed into another crash of equally stubborn rhinos. Next, check out the strangest animal found in every state.
Originally Published in Reader's Digest
