Is it Really a "Flock" of Seagulls?
A group of seagulls is actually called a colony. Turns out the band led you astray. Who would have thought with all that fabulous hair?
When we posted the story last week about rescuing rabbits, we were checking out the collective name for a group of rabbits (“herd” is right, by the way, so is colony, husk, warren and others). In searching we stumbled across this page from our cousins over at the U.S. Geological Survey.
Seems that they got a rash of phone calls a few years back about group names for animals and put the information on the Web.
Some make sense and you can see where they came from:
A romp of otters – Come on, those guys always look like they are having fun.
Photo: Lee Karney/USFWS
A convocation of eagles – A convocation calls to mind an important gathering, and what is more important than the symbol of our country?
Calling flying mallards a sord makes sense if you consider the etymology of the word. According to freedictionary.com, sord originally comes from the Latin word surgere meaning to rise.
Photo: Steve Hillebrand/USFWS
But why call a group of bears a sloth? Sloth means slow, and bears are anything but slow. Grizzly bears can run as fast as a racehorse for short distances.
Photo: Steve Hillebrand/USFWS
Personally, we like a romp of otters, a prickle of porcupines, or maybe a crash of rhinoceroses.
How about you? What’s your favorite?
Considering all of the errors and mistakes government makes, the post about A Flock of Seagulls seems to be a perfect case of the pot calling the kettle black. (Not to mention that there is no such animal as a seagull).
