---
title: "On ‘gatherations’: a caravan of camels and a hug of teddy bears"
description: "Sitting around a campfire after a day’s game-watching, beers in hand, talk often turns from what was seen that day to how to describe creatures in clusters. Here’s some information that could bag you admiration and a free beer."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "NATURAL WORLD"
author: "Don Pinnock"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/donpinnock/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-11-24-on-gatherations-a-caravan-of-camels-and-a-hug-of-teddy-bears/"
published: "2020-11-24T22:50:32"
updated: "2020-11-27T03:39:59"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 866
---

# On ‘gatherations’: a caravan of camels and a hug of teddy bears

> Sitting around a campfire after a day’s game-watching, beers in hand, talk often turns from what was seen that day to how to describe creatures in clusters. Here’s some information that could bag you admiration and a free beer.

By Don Pinnock · Published 25 November 2020, 00:50 SAST · Updated 27 November 2020, 05:39 SAST

## Content

It began, evidently, long ago and with animal poop. Gentlemen hunters in 14th-century France needed to identify the droppings of their prey in terms not considered coarse. The invention of new words caught their fancy and extended to what was termed “gatherations" of both humans and animals.

Early that century, a book called *L’Art de vénerie* by a huntsman, Guillaume Twici, listed three types of droppings and three terms for animal clusters. One Gaston Fébus extended this to seven in a hunter’s guide named *Le**Livre de chasse*. By the time the name game reached Britain as a pamphlet by a Mr Egerton in 1452, there were 70 gatherations.

The *Boke of Seynt Albans* – written by Dame Juliana Berners in 1486 to instruct "gentill menn and honest persons in the arts necessary to an English gentill mann" – pushed the number to 165.

V*énerie* also threw in suggestions for human "nouns of assembly" such as a blast of hunters, a subtlety of sergeants and a superfluity of nuns.

*The Boke of Seynt Albans* added a clutch more, such as a Doctryne of doctoris, a Sentence of juges, a Fightyng of beggers, a Melody of harpers, a Gagle of women and a Disworship of Scottis.

*Seynt Albans* is, amazingly, still in print.

It’s hard to imagine that these collective nouns were important as scientific or practical communication. Rather, they marked the erudition of a gentleman who could be judged by his “kennings" – the ability to use humorous and courtly language.

Often the “assemblies" made better alliteration than good sense.

![GRETNA, SCOTLAND - OCTOBER 20: Starlings put on a display as they gather in murmurations on October 20, 2020 in Gretna, Scotland. It is thought that starlings flock together in large groups for various reasons such as flocking together makes it difficult for predators to target a single bird, it also keeps them warm. They gather over their autumn roosting site just before dusk and perform their acrobatic whirling motions before setting down for the evening. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/Em5sejAiO2nTvMEvh6DvCI9ugfs=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/GettyImages-1281309677.jpg)

*Starlings put on a display as they gather in murmurations on October 20 2020 in Gretna, Scotland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)*

“Gatherations" were given a boost through Britain’s increasing exploration and conquest of previously “unknown" parts of the world. Africa’s extraordinary creatures were simply made for the job.

The accounts of explorers – travel writers all – became bestsellers to a public hungry for fabulous tales of strange places and exotic creatures. The writers of these tales, many of whom made their income from the sale of exploration diaries, competed to describe unimagined wonders in ever more elaborate language.

In this atmosphere, nouns of assembly flourished like weeds.

The advent of the internet has given the ponder of gatherators new life and there are websites where people are invited to submit new collective nouns. It leads to arguments, showmanship and plenty of chuckles.

This has taken the sport beyond hunted creatures to ourselves, and given us many new-look collective nouns such as a tedium of golfers, a pity of prisoners, a fidget of altar boys, a giggle of girls, a ponder of philosophers, a flunk of students, a gossip of relatives and, one I particularly like, a hug of teddy bears.

So here’s a fun sample from a list that has grown to more than 1,000 and a tradition that began more than 600 years ago:

- a shrewdness of apes
- a congregation of [alligators](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alligator)
- a sloth of bears
- an obstinacy of buffaloes
- a rumpus of baboons
- a cloud of [bats](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat)
- a bellow of bullocks
- a rainbow of butterflies
- a caravan of [camels](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel)
- a pounce or clowder of cats
- a coalition of cheetahs
- a yap of chihuahuas
- a peep of chickens
- a rake of colts
- a gulp of [cormorants](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cormorant)
- a bask of crocodiles
- a murder of crows
- a cowardice of curs
- a kennel of dogs
- a piteousness of doves
- a weyr of dragons
- a paddle of ducks (on water)
- a convocation of [eagles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle)
- a parade or memory of elephants
- a busyness of ferrets
- a charm of finches
- a skulk of foxes
- a wedge of geese (in flight)
- a journey of giraffes
- a trip of goats
- a whoop of gorillas
- a rasp of [guineafowl](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guineafowl)s
- a husk of hares
- a boil of hawks
- a prickle of hedgehogs
- a siege of herons
- a bloat of hippos
- a cackle of [hyenas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyena)
- a fluther of jellyfish
- a kindle of kittens
- a desert of lapwing
- an exaltation of larks
- a leap of leopards
- a tiding of magpies
- a stud of mares
- a mob of meerkats
- a mischief of [mice](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse)
- a labour of moles
- a scourge of [mosquitoes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito)
- a barren of mules
- a parliament of [owls](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owls)
- a yoke of oxen
- a pandemonium of parrots
- an ostentation of [peacocks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peacock)
- a parcel of penguins
- a nye of pheasants
- a kit of pigeons (when flying together)
- a wing of plovers
- a turmoil of porpoises
- a piddle of puppies
- a drift of quail
- an unkindness of ravens
- a crash of rhinos
- a parliament of rooks
- a rookery or bob of seals
- a host of sparrows
- a scurry of [squirrels](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squirrel)
- a stench of skunks
- a murmuration of starlings
- a sounder of swine
- an ambush of [tigers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger)
- a knot of toads
- a hover of trout
- a rafter of turkeys
- a turn of turtles
- a blessing of unicorns
- a gam of whales
- a destruction of wildcats
- implausibility of wildebeest
- a knob of wildfowl
- a drift of wild pigs
- a rout of wolves
- a gatling of woodpeckers
- a herd of wrens
- a dazzle of zebras.**DM/ML**

**If you want to see one of the most amazing gatherations on earth...**

[Vimeo video](https://player.vimeo.com/video/31158841)

[Murmuration](https://vimeo.com/31158841) from [Islands & Rivers](https://vimeo.com/islandsandrivers) on [Vimeo](https://vimeo.com).