Who fancies heading out on the East African Expedition next year to spot a cartload of chimpanzees, a bloat of hippos, a crash of rhinos or even a coalition of cheetahs? Or perhaps South America sounds more enticing with its posses of vicuna and shadows of jaguars…

A recent google search to find the collective noun for chimpanzees (a cartload) has opened my eyes to one of the more bizarre, but entertaining aspects of the English language – the strange and sometimes downright wierd collective nouns we have for the animals on this planet. Some of the best are above and can be experienced first hand on Quest’s East African and Andean Expeditions….a few other choice finds are below!

A murder of crows

An unkindness of ravens

A leap of leopards

A charm of hummingbirrds

A rhumba of rattlesnakes

And last but not least (and almost certainly my favourite) an implausibility of gnus.

Why not see some of these animals yourself and apply to join one of our expeditions in 2012…