What do you call a group of Safari animals

and how did they get their name?

Ever wondered what the collective name for a group of Safari animals is and its origins?

Over 500 years ago circa 1486, Dame Juliana Berners (a writer of hunting, hawking and heraldry) composed an essay on hunting entitled the ‘Book of St Albans’. In this book she paired groups of animals with nouns, purely by what they sounded like. These collective nouns have stuck with the groups and today we still refer to a school of fish, a pride of lions and a gaggle of geese.

A dazzle of zebra

Here’s your pre-safari homework to get you in the true safari spirit… should your safari guide test your knowledge and ask ‘what do you call a group of safari animals’ you should at least be able to recall a few!

So here goes…

• A parliament of owls
• A prickle of porcupines
• A mob of meerkat
• A muster of storks
• A venue of vultures
• A cede of honey badgers
• A dazzle of zebra
• An implausibility of wildebeest
• A sounder of warthogs
• A pride of lion
• A crash of rhino
• A cackle of hyena
• A convocation of eagles
• A flamboyance of flamingos
• A coalition of cheetah
• An obstinacy or herd of buffalo
• A conspiracy of raven
• A murder of crows
• A bask of crocodiles
• A lounge of lizards
• A gulp of cormorants
• An intrusion of cockroaches
• A tower of giraffe
• A bloat of hippo
• A leap of leopard (although you’re more likely to see just a solitary leopard)
• A troop of baboons
• A quiver of cobras

Now close your eyes and see how many you can remember!

Happy Christmas!