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This list gives names of animals used depending on the context. Many species of animals, particularly those domesticated, have been given specific names for the male, the female, and the young of the species. There are a few generic terms, "bull-cow-calf", for instance, that are found across species, but many species have been granted unique names for these gender/age characteristics. An empty table cell indicates incomplete data and should not be interpreted to mean that the animal does not have a specific name of that type. However, a table cell with a dash in it signifies that no term for the indicated combination exists.

It is thought that many of the bizarre words used for collective groupings of animals were first published in 1486 in The Book of Saint Albans, in an essay on hunting attributed to Dame Juliana Berners. Many of the words are thought to have been chosen simply for the humorous or poetic images they conjured up in her lively imagination.^[1][2]

Most terms used here may be found in common dictionaries and general information web sites.^[3][4][5]

Generic terms

This table contains terms generally applicable across some common categories of animals.

Terms by species or taxon

This article's factual accuracy is disputed. Please help to ensure that disputed facts are reliably sourced. See the relevant discussion on the talk page. (September 2011)

See also

• Lists of animals

Notes

1. ^ The term "flange" was originally used to denote a group of baboons in a Not the Nine O'Clock News comedy sketch entitled "Gerald the Intelligent Gorilla" where it was used for comic effect. It has since been used in the scientific literature for a collection of baboons.
2. ^ A worker bee is a sexually undeveloped female.
3. ^ A castrated male cat is a gib or neuter.
4. ^ Castrated male cattle are steers in the United States, or bullocks in the United Kingdom. A young cow that has not given birth is a heifer. See Cattle for more names. Cows is often used informally to refer to cattle in general.
5. ^ Bovine refers to all species of genus Bos.
6. ^ A castrated male chicken is a capon.
7. ^ A castrated male ferret is a gib.^{[citation needed]}
8. ^ ^{a b} A castrated male sheep or goat is a wether. See sheep for more names.
9. ^ a "kettle" or "boil" is a group of hawks swirling and cris-crossing in a thermal air current, see "A Kettle of Hawks"
10. ^ A castrated male horse is a gelding. A male foal is a colt, and a female foal is a filly.
11. ^ A young female pig that has not given birth is a gilt. A castrated male pig is a barrow.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Berners, Dame Juliana (1881 reproduction) [First published 1486]. The Boke of Saint Albans. Introduction by William Blades. London: Elliot Stock. http://www.archive.org/details/bokeofsaintalban00bernuoft. Retrieved 2011-05-27. 
2. ^ "Precision of Lexicographers". World Wide Words. 2001-12-09. http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/collectives.htm. Retrieved 2011-07-20. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "What do you call a group of ...? : Oxford Dictionaries Online". oxforddictionaries.com. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/420. Retrieved August 2, 2010. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d} "Dictionary.com Animal Names". http://dictionary.reference.com/writing/styleguide/animal.html. 
5. ^ "Merriam Webster Dictionary". http://www.merriam-webster.com. 
6. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "Pup"
7. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as} "Animal group names". SanDiegoZoo.org. Zoological Society of San Diego. http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/got_questions_groups_list.html. 
8. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} "AskOxford: A". archived copy of Collective Terms for Groups of Animals. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. http://replay.web.archive.org/20081020120740/http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/collective/a/. Retrieved 2011-05-27. 
9. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} "Animal Congregations, or What Do You Call a Group of.....?". U.S. Geological Survey Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center. http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/about/faqs/animals/names.htm. Retrieved 2011-05-27. 
10. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} Deer of the world: their evolution, behaviour, and ecology By Valerius Geist, 1998, ISBN 0-8117-0496-3
11. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y} "What do you call a group of ...?". Oxford Dictionaries. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/collectivenouns_us. Retrieved 2011-12-13. 
12. ^ Thomson, Donald A. (2000). "school+of+barracuda" Reef fishes of the Sea of Cortez : the rocky-shore fishes of the Gulf of California (Rev. ed., 1st University of Texas Press ed. ed.). Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 288. ISBN 9780292781559. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6MOaKl7yu3wC&pg=PA288&dq="school+of+barracuda". 
13. ^ Campbell, Charles A.R. (2002). "cloud+of+bats" Bats, mosquitoes and dollars. Honolulu, Hawaii: University Press of the Pacific. pp. 128. ISBN 9780898759327. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JfzpEWauHSgC&pg=PA128&dq="cloud+of+bats". 
14. ^ Brown, Michael J. (1997). "flock+of+bats" Durio, a bibliographic review. New Delhi, India: International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Office for South Asia. pp. 62. ISBN 9789290433187. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=3AcGwT0CdSwC&pg=PA62&dq="flock+of+bats". 
15. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Cub"
16. ^ Word Information — -ine words
17. ^ ^{a b c} "Calf"
18. ^ ^{a b c} "Cow"
19. ^ Caro, T.M. (1994). Cheetahs of the Serengeti Plains : group living in an asocial species. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 237. ISBN 9780226094342. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hcZCubO01bEC&pg=PA237&dq=coalition+cheetah. 
20. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Universe in Your Pocket by Joel Levy, published by Barnes & Noble, Inc.
21. ^ Gray, p. 594
22. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t} "AskOxford: D". archived copy of Collective Terms for Groups of Animals. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. http://replay.web.archive.org/20081020120740/http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/collective/d/. Retrieved 2011-05-27. 
23. ^ "Animal group names". fao.org. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/X3690E/x3690e0o.htm. 
24. ^ ^{a b} "Bull"
25. ^ Handley, Julia (2010). "tower+of+giraffes" Little things.. [S.l.]: Authorhouse. pp. 52. ISBN 9781452061702. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=yTd2KH-tegYC&pg=PA52&dq="tower+of+giraffes". 
26. ^ Mobley, Jason A. (2009). "guinea+fowl"+flock Birds of the world. New York: Marshall Cavendish. pp. 291. ISBN 9780761477754. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gccfdvSUTg4C&pg=PA291&dq="guinea+fowl"+flock. 
27. ^ Caithness CWS - Caithness Field Club - Annual Bulletins - 2002 - Early Flying In The North Of Scotland
28. ^ King, Alanna, ed. (1987). Robert Louis Stevenson in the South Seas. London: Luzac Paragon House. http://books.google.com/?id=HWFbAAAAMAAJ&lpg=PR1&dq=%22Robert%20Louis%20Stevenson%20in%20the%20South%20Seas%22&pg=PA56#v=onepage&q=long%20pig. 
29. ^ International Wildlife Encyclopedia By Robert Burton, 2002, vol. 8, ISBN 0-7614-7266-5, p. 1322
30. ^ Ivan G. Sparkes, Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms (White Lion, 1975).
31. ^ Bradley Trevor Greive, Mitsuaki Iwago (2003). Priceless : the vanishing beauty of a fragile planet. Kansas City, Mo.: Andrews McMeel Pub.. pp. 131. ISBN 9780740726958. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=eWaAtqdtfbIC&pg=PA131&dq=loris+colony. 
32. ^ McArdle,, John E. (1981). Functional morphology of the hip and thigh of the lorisiformes.. Basel, München [usw.]: Karger. pp. 89. ISBN 9783805517676. 
33. ^ See Mouse#As food
34. ^ Brockes, J. & A. Kumar. 2005. Newts. Current Biology. 15(2):R4244) pmid=15668151 url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982204010322
35. ^ New Zealand Penguins - Frequently Asked Questions
36. ^ Baltimore Bird Club - Group Names for Birds: A Partial List
37. ^ Lilford, F.L.S. 1894-5. Notes on the Ornithology of Northhamptonshire and Neighborhood for 1893. Journal of the Northamptonshire Natural History Society. Vol 8 p54.
38. ^ Beat about the Bush: Mammals, by Trevor Carnaby, published by Jacana Media, January 1, 2008, page 362. ISBN 978-1-77009-240-2.
39. ^ ^{a b c} "AskOxford: Z". http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/collective/z/?view=uk. Retrieved 2010-06-22. 

Further reading

• Peter Gray, "The encyclopedia of the biological sciences", 1970
• Lipton, James (1993) [1968]. An Exaltation of Larks (Ultimate ed.). Penguin. ISBN 9780140170962.