A Barrel of Monkeys: A Compendium of Collective Nouns for Animals (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781851244454)

What should we call the wild animals we spot from our windows? A surfeit of skunks? A dray of squirrels? A patient watch of wildlife enthusiasts might even catch sight of a skulk of foxes or a scavenging sloth of bears. The practice of inventing collective nouns for animals is an ancient pastime which derives from medieval hunts, but the list has been augmented in every age--and it remains an entertaining pastime today.

A Barrel of Monkeys brings together more than one hundred collective nouns for animals, from a bloat of hippopotamuses to a caravan of camels, a tower of giraffes, and a leap of leopards. The rivalry between male rhinoceroses becomes especially apt when the rowdy ungulates are characterized as a crash of rhinos. An ambush of tigers is an apt characterization of the skillful hunters that silently stalk their prey. A blend of wordplay, puns, and alliteration, some of the terms collected here are now commonplace, like a pride of lions. Others aren't heard much these days, but many--like a dazzle of zebras or a prickle of porcupines--richly deserve a comeback.

With charming illustrations by the eighteenth-century artist and naturalist Thomas Bewick, A Barrel of Monkeys is the perfect follow-up to A Conspiracy of Ravens, the Bodleian Library's book of bird words. Not even a crash of rhinos can stop readers from smiling at this second collection.

Author: Samuel Fanous
ISBN-10: 185124445X
ISBN-13: 9781851244454
Publisher: Bodleian Library
Language: English
Published: 12/15/2015
Pages: 144
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.38lbs
Size: 8.19h x 2.92w x 0.48d