List of animal names

In the English language, many animals have different names depending on whether they are male, female, young, domesticated, or in groups.
The best-known source of many English words used for collective groupings of animals is The Book of Saint Albans, an essay on hunting published in 1486 and attributed to Juliana Berners. Most terms used here may be found in common dictionaries and general information web sites.

Generic terms

The terms in this table apply to many or all taxa in a particular biological family, class, or clade.

Scientific term	Trivial name	Young	Female	Male	Collective noun	Collateral adjective
Aves	bird	chick	hen	cock, rooster	flock	avian
Bovinae	cattle; ox, cow, kine	calf	cow ; heifer	bull ; bullock or steer	herd	bovine
Caninae	dog	puppy, pup, cub, whelp	bitch	dog	pack	canine
Cetacea	whale, dolphin, porpoise	calf	cow	bull	pod herd	cetacean
Equidae	horse	colt, filly, foal	jenny ; mare	jack ; stallion ; gelding	herd	equine
Felidae	cat	kitten ; cub	queen	tom, king	clowder ; pride	feline
Suinae	pig	piglet	sow	boar	drift, drove	porcine, suine
Procyonidae	Raccoon family of Carnivorans	cub, kit	sow	boar	gaze, smack, committee	procyonid, procyonine
Viverridae	Civet family of Carnivorans	cub, kit	sow	boar	gaze, smack, committee	viverrid, viverrine
Mustelidae	Ferret family of Carnivorans	kit	sow ; jill	boar ; hob, jack	colony ; business	mustelid, musteline
Leporidae	rabbits & hares	nestling	jill	jack	nest or band	leporid, leporine
Osteichthyes	bony fish	hatchling, fry, fingerling			school, shoal	piscine, ichthyic

Terms by species or taxon

Usage of collective nouns

Merriam-Webster writes that most terms of venery fell out of use in the 16th century, including a "murder" for crows. It goes on to say that some of the terms in The Book of Saint Albans were "rather fanciful", explaining that the book extended collective nouns to people of specific professions, such as a "poverty" of pipers. It concludes that for lexicographers, many of these do not satisfy criteria for entry by being "used consistently in running prose" without meriting explanation. Some terms that were listed as commonly used were "herd", "flock", "school", and "swarm".
Writing for Audubon, Nicholas Lund says that many such terms are not used in actuality. When he interviewed scientists who specialize in studying specific animals, they had not heard of these terms, such as a "bask" of crocodiles or "wisdom" of wombats, being applied in their fields. Lund noted that the common plural nouns for animals were "flock" for birds and "herd" for cows, conceding that for certain animals in small groups, there was currency in usage such as a "pod" of whales or "gaggle" of geese.