Monday, March 1, 2010

Katie Says: That’s a lot of animals!

This week's blog is all about groups of animals. Animals that like to hang out in groups are called gregarious...they're social butterflies! (or birds, or mammals, or fish, or whatever!) Some animals hang out in groups all the time and some only at certain times of the year, like migration or during the winter months. What has always been one of my favorite bits of animal trivia is the names given to various groups of animals. Check out these fun animal group names:

Murder: a group of crows
Unkindness: a group of ravens
Intrusion: a group of cockroaches (I'll say!)
Band: a group of coyotes
Memory (or herd): a group of elephants
Army: a group of frogs or ants
Charm: a group of goldfinches or hummingbirds
Knot: a group of toads
Mischief: a group of mice
Prickle: a group of porcupines
Parliment: a group of owls
Smack: a group of jellyfish

And some groups are even given different names depending on what they're doing. For example, a group of hawks is called a cast. But when they're flying, they're a kettle and when they're circling on air currents they're called a boil! Whew! That's a lot to keep track of!

So remember, the next time you strike up a converstation about jellyfish you really can say you're talking smack!

Have a question or a story of your own to share? Email me at kfisk[at symbol]briarbush.org!

1 comment:

Teresa said...

That is so interesting. Going to share that list with my little one...I'm sure she will get some laughs out of it.

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