15 questions · Nature
This level is pure fun. The so-called terms of venery come from medieval hunting manuals, above all the Book of St Albans of 1486, and many were probably invented as a parlour game for the gentry rather than recorded from real use. They survive because they are wonderful. The famous one is the murder of crows: birds with a grim reputation, matched by an unkindness of ravens. Owls sit in a parliament, wise and solemn. Lemurs get a conspiracy, ferrets a business, probably a worn-down 'busyness' for animals that are rarely still. Giraffes form a tower, which needs no explanation, and bats a cauldron, though colony is what a biologist would write. Some of these terms genuinely describe behaviour. A dazzle of zebras is named for what stripes do in a moving group: they blur together and confuse a predator. A crash of rhinoceroses fits animals that are short-sighted and charge whatever they cannot identify. A murmuration of starlings imitates the sound of thousands of wingbeats, and no bird leads it: each one simply tracks about seven neighbours. Geese change their name in mid-air: on the ground they are a gaggle, in flight a skein, named after a loose length of yarn. Add a bloat of hippos, a prickle of porcupines and an ambush of tigers, and you have the collection.
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Murder
The term comes from the medieval lists of 'terms of venery', collected in the Book of St Albans.
💡 Did you know? Crows recognise individual human faces and pass warnings about them to their young.
Parliament
The image goes back to owls as birds of wisdom sitting in solemn assembly.
💡 Did you know? Owls cannot move their eyes: they turn their heads up to 270 degrees instead.
Tower
The name simply follows the shape of the herd seen from a distance.
💡 Did you know? A giraffe has the same number of neck vertebrae as a human: seven.
Conspiracy
Like most terms of venery it is playful rather than scientific.
💡 Did you know? Ring-tailed lemurs hold 'stink fights', waving scent-soaked tails at rivals.
Business
The word is probably a worn-down form of 'busyness': ferrets are rarely still.
💡 Did you know? Ferrets sleep up to 18 hours a day, which makes the name slightly unfair.
Unkindness
Ravens carried a grim reputation, which shaped the term.
💡 Did you know? Ravens can imitate human speech more clearly than many parrots.
Murmuration
The name imitates the sound: thousands of wingbeats become a low murmur.
💡 Did you know? No bird leads a murmuration: each one tracks about seven neighbours.
Gaggle
In flight the same birds are called a skein instead.
💡 Did you know? The word imitates their calling, like 'cackle'.
Skein
A skein is a length of yarn: the line of birds looks like a loose thread.
💡 Did you know? The V formation saves up to a fifth of the energy of flying alone.
Crash
Rhinos are short-sighted and charge at anything they cannot identify: hence the name.
💡 Did you know? Despite their bulk a white rhino reaches 50 kilometres per hour.
Dazzle
The stripes blur together in a moving group, which confuses predators and gives the term.
💡 Did you know? No two zebras have the same stripe pattern.
Bloat
Hippos spend the day in water in groups of ten to twenty.
💡 Did you know? Hippos cannot actually swim: they walk and push off along the bottom.
Prickle
Porcupines are mostly solitary, so a prickle is a rare sight.
💡 Did you know? Quills are not shot: they detach on contact and are barbed at the tip.
Ambush
Tigers hunt alone, so the term describes the hunting style rather than a real group.
💡 Did you know? A tiger's stripes continue onto its skin: shave one and the pattern remains.
Cauldron
The everyday word is colony; 'cauldron' belongs to the same playful tradition as 'murder of crows'.
💡 Did you know? Bats are the only mammals capable of true sustained flight.
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