Sure, you’ve heard of a pride of lions or a pack of wolves. But what about a quiver of cobras or a fever of stingrays? Matt Sewell highlights the animal kingdom’s quirkiest collective nouns in his new illustrated book, A Charm of Goldfinches. Featuring entries about 50+ animal species, Sewell’s book pairs animal facts with beautiful artwork.
A Charm of Goldfinches hits shelves on September 5th, but you can preview some of our favorite entries in the gallery.
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An Array of Hedgehogs
Led Zeppelin paid tribute to bustling "hedgerows" in "Stairway to Heaven"—and I always sing along with the firm belief that it's hedgehogs doing a spring cleaning who are making all that racket. Though in the still of night, a rustle of leaves and a grunt in the dark can conjure up a horrific host of cryptozoological beasts, these sounds are, in fact, all the clues you need to spot our spiny friends. The nocturnal mammals roam together for food and fun.
There are seventeen different types of hedgehogs in the world, mainly found in Europe, Africa, and Asia. There are none in the Americas, but you do have your own spiky dude, the porcupine, which is similar to the echidnas of (also hedgehog-free) Australia; however, neither of these animals, although covered in spines, is related.
Reprinted from A Charm of Goldfinches Copyright © 2016, 2017 by Matt Sewell. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
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A Smack of Jellyfish
Jellyfish are remnants of the oldest life on Earth: they were here way before the dinosaurs, millions upon millions of years ago, and are as complex and beautiful as they look. They don't have a heart, a brain, bones, or any blood, and are entirely at the mercy of the tides and torrents of the oceans. Their bell-like bodies propel the sea creatures but, like plankton, the currents drag the jellyfish through the waterways. Sometimes huge numbers are coursed together by the undertow; these are called blooms and thousands of jellyfish fill the vortex in an undulating bobbing mass. On occasion, however, they get separated from the in-crowd and can be washed up on shorelines. And such beached jellyfish are the only explanation I can think of for the "smack" collective noun.
After all, there is something about that strange jellylike substance the creatures are made from. Lying still on the beach, they call to you to touch; you want to give in to a prod, a pat . . . or even just a gentle little smack to see it wobble. Or maybe that's just me? But whatever the temptation, you really shouldn't get too close, as even out of water some jellyfish are immensely toxic—in fact, they're one of the most venomous animals of the sea. Ouch!
Reprinted from A Charm of Goldfinches Copyright © 2016, 2017 by Matt Sewell. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
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A Gaze of Raccoons
Raccoons were originally observed by settlers to the New World as woodland animals inhabiting river shorelines, where they would wash or wet their food before eating it. Their name is based on a Native American word that describes this characteristic. After experiencing a population boom alongside humans, the raccoons moved upriver into Canada and now inhabit nearly every backwater, bayou, and boondock of the United States, all the way down to Costa Rica. There are regional differences and classifications of the critter, but they are all pretty much a similar shape and taxonomy, and all sport their famous bandit mask that hides the dark eyes that always plead so gorgeously. Raising their little paws, with outstretched dextrous fingers, they beg for food, gazing up in unison. But "no means no" where I come from. Oh, okay, just a little bit then. . .
Reprinted from A Charm of Goldfinches Copyright © 2016, 2017 by Matt Sewell. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
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A Bellowing of Bullfinches
I have spent a lot of time with bullfinches, and I still can't work out where this collective noun comes from. It's definitely not their call, which is an attractive, single-note plaintive song. So really the only thing I can think of is my bellowing to my wife and girls that we have "A BELLOWING OF BULLFINCHES ON THE BIRD FEEDER, QUICK!" My hollering doesn't scare them away, though; nothing much seems to. They just hang out on the bare branches, not fidgeting and twitching like the flighty finches who fear the deathly grip of the sparrow hawk. Maybe they do their bellowing out in the woods, far from the gaze of human eyes or the reach of human ears. Whatever it is they are doing, they should keep on doing it—so that I can continue to bellow about the bellowing that visits our bird feeders every day.
Reprinted from A Charm of Goldfinches Copyright © 2016, 2017 by Matt Sewell. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
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A Harem of Seals
Seals can be found off nearly all of the UK's coastline; there's a lot of it and not all of it is pleasure beaches and boardwalks. As seals prefer long stretches of hard, isolated sandy beaches and rocky shorelines, these guys—the common seals—are the ones you might have seen downstream from an estuary, sunning themselves on a sandbank. Clumsy and obtuse on land, they will bungle back into the water when disturbed, and then set off again on their peregrinations in search of fish.
Seals are incredible swimmers: they're agile, fast, and fierce, and some can hold their breath for up to two hours. After a day's fishing, the seals will return to land, either solitarily or in big groups of up to a hundred. These groups have the standard titles of herds, pods, and colonies, but I prefer "harem." I like how it conjures up images of seals decadently splayed over each other at the sultan's court, all sparkly eyes and flashing eyelashes, shuffling around like belly dancers while incense burns and reedy instruments hum in the background.
Reprinted from A Charm of Goldfinches Copyright © 2016, 2017 by Matt Sewell. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
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Ten Speed Press will release A Charm of Goldfinches on September 5, 2017.