Group Collective Names Two Trivia Quiz

Answer: A barren

Found in the "The Trivia Encyclopedia" by Fred L. Worth, published by Berkley Pub Group, 1984, a barren of mules reflects the sad fact that mules, the offspring of a female horse and a male donkey, are hybrid and sterile animals, and cannot produce offspring of their own.

Answer: A float

Found in "Collective Terms for Groups of Animals", Oxford University Press, United Kingdom, 2006, a hippopotamus is a large mammal found in Africa. It is the third biggest of Africa's land creatures. The origin of its peculiar name is Greek and translates to "river horse", but don't expect this lumbering herbivore to win any sprints.

It can do a thundering run of 30 kilometres (19 miles) per hour for short distances however if it has to, but much prefers to spend its days partly submerged in the cooling waters of any river it can find.

A group of crocodiles is also known by this collective term as well.

Answer: A gulp

Found in the work "Animal Congregations, or What Do You Call a Group of..?" by U.S. Geological Survey Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, 2015, cormorants are part of a family of 40 different bird species. This bird, which looks a little like a penguin-duck mix, can be found nesting in cliffs along seashores.

They catch their food by diving under the water, scooping up a fish, and swallowing it in one greedy gulp. Man has utilised this bird in the fishing industry for over 1,300 years, particularly in India, Egypt, China and Japan.

The birds are trained to catch their prey and return them to the boats, and are prevented from swallowing all but the smallest fish by bands placed around their necks. Their reward is of course a small fish each time, with the larger fish retained by the fishermen to be sold or traded or eaten by his own family.

Answer: An attitude

The origins of this collective term for a group of teenagers is unknown, but it's so spot on that it's really amusing. At times you wish you'd reared goldfish instead of teenagers with their moods, their mutters, their conviction that everyone is picking on them, their certainty that nobody loves or understand them, their messy rooms, their grumpiness and so on. Ah but they're impossible not to love. Somebody has to, that's for sure.

But then, suddenly, in the blink of a tear-filled eye, they're gone and you're left with only memories. Cherish every single moment while you have it, moods and all.

Answer: A bridge

Bridge, as in bridge of a ship that is, the elevated enclosure where the officers of the vessel direct operations. This saying can be found in "An Exaltation of Larks: The Ultimate Edition", by James Lipton, published by Penguin USA, 1993. Admirals are more often than not based on the headquarters on land rather than on a ship, but are so much associated with ocean going vessels that this saying is most appropriate.

Answer: A peep

This can be found in Terry Ross's work "Group Names for Birds" and sums up perfectly the sounds of small chickens as they gather around the old mother hen for protection and solace. It is such a lovely sight to see and hear, and their harassed parent always seems to know exactly where each one of her brood is at any given time, as she anxiously supervises and guards them from any would be predators.

Answer: A kaleidoscope

A kaleidoscope is a mirror lined instrument filled with many different tiny pieces of coloured glass. When looked through one end, and with the other end turned around, this produces strikingly beautiful coloured images and patterns reflected back on the mirrors.

A flight of multi-coloured butterflies could be said to resemble that very same effect. The author for this collective term is unknown. There are 20,000 different species of beautifully coloured butterflies in the world, so you can easily see the connection between them and the lovely images projected by a kaleidoscope.

Answer: A death row

Poor things. James Lipton once again gives up this term in his 1993 work "An Exaltation of Larks: The Ultimate Edition". It evokes an all too real image of turkeys waiting, lined up in their enclosures, for the dreaded annual celebration of Thanksgiving, a public holiday most associated with the USA, to mark the first celebration of this festival by the Pilgrims who landed in the New World of America in 1621.

This was attended by 93 native Americas, 53 Pilgrims, and a few very reluctant turkeys. Four centuries later, and still celebrated every year in the US, Americans eat more on this day than any other, so much so that Thanksgiving is often known as "Turkey Day" as well.

In 2015, for example, 45 million turkeys were consumed for Thanksgiving that year. That's a fact bound to make any turkey give an anxious gobble or two.

Answer: A plump

With its origins unknown, a plump of ducks immediately raises images of a perfectly cooked bird plonked right in the middle of a platter, and surrounded by rows of beautifully cooked vegetables. And gravy of course. Lovely rich gravy. Oh yum. But for some peculiar reason, that lovely image, far from being appreciated, seems to drive your average Mr and Mrs Duck...quackers.

Answer: A dropping

The author is unknown for this very funny collective term, but it IS considered lucky for a bird, not necessarily a pigeon, to do a little whoopsy on your head. Perhaps not so much so if it lands in your eye however, and even less so if it lands in your soup in an outdoors restaurant. "Dropping" is the common word by which the faecal waste product of a bird is known.