Outdoors

8 adorable group names for Canadian animals

Two baby raccoons lying on top of each other on the ground Photo by Kenneth D. Love/Shutterstock

English is nothing if not a colourful language, and our bizarre ways of naming animal groups are as playful and cute as many of the species they describe.

We all know that fish form a school and a group of deer is called a herd, but some of these strange group names may surprise you

For instance, did you know that a group of bears is called …

Two bears at the edge of a waterfall eating fish swimming upstream
Photo by Mark_Kostich/Shutterstock

 

a sleuth?

While a group of polar bears (a gathering that happens rarely—usually only for breeding or feeding) is called …

Mom polar bear and two cubs in the Canadian tundra
Photo by Gudkov Andrey/Shutterstock

a celebration.

A group of raccoons is known as …

Two baby raccoons lying on top of each other on the ground
Photo by Kenneth D. Love/Shutterstock

a nursery.

And a group of beavers is fittingly called …

Three beavers in a lake chewing on branches
Photo by Piotr Kamionka/Shutterstock

a colony.

You might have guessed that a group of bucks is called …

Two white tailed bucks
Photo by Danita Delimont/Shutterstock

a clash.

But would you ever assume a group of squirrels is …

Three baby squirrels crowding the opening of an owl nesting home
Photo by Georgi Baird/Shutterstock

a dray?

“Herd of turtles” might be slang for slow traffic, but a group of them is actually called …

Two green turtles on a log
Photo by Mariia Kozina/Shutterstock

a bale.

And groups of foxes go by four names …

Three baby foxes in an enclosure
Photo by Harry Collins Photography/Shutterstock

a skulk, a leash, a troop, or an earth.

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