In their native Australia, these cute, furry little critters are notorious for leaving plenty of evidence of their existence but not often being seen.
Seems to me you’d have to be pretty smart to pull that off.
• A lounge of lizards.
Hmm, let’s see – we’ll go with the iguana tending bar, the gecko waiting tables, the gila monster working the cash register and the chameleon alternating between playing piano and doing stand-up comedy.
And I want a komodo dragon as my bouncer.
• A prickle of porcupines.
I’m not sure porcupines do much grouping, but I am sure that if and when they do, there’s going to be plenty of opportunity to justify this label.
• A quiver of cobras.
I hope to never come across a group of cobras, but if I do, I’ll probably quiver right before I run.
• A mischief of mice.
See giraffes.
• A gaze of raccoons.
Coons have really big eyes, right?
All the better to gaze with, I guess.
After further review, I can’t say most of these names are all that bad for their particular animal group – crabs and lizards notwithstanding. When examined more closely, most of them make at least a fair amount of sense (although I’m still going to say they’re weird).
Nice work, animal scientists.
Doug Davison is a writer, photographer and newsroom assistant for the Houston Herald. His columns are posted online at www.houstonherald.com. Email: ddavison@houstonherald.com.