What are baby apes called?

September 1, 2004 9:23 AM

Cats have kittens, dogs have puppies, Geese have goslings, foxes have kits, goats have kids, people have kids. What do apes have?
posted by Miles Long to pets & animals (17 answers total)

A shrewdness.

Google on "nouns of assemblage" for other collective nouns
posted by bshort at 9:24 AM on September 1, 2004

Ah, crap, sorry, wrong question.
posted by bshort at 9:25 AM on September 1, 2004

They have baby apes.
posted by iconomy at 9:27 AM on September 1, 2004

you were thinking, like, 'a murder of crows', right?

Good one. I'll have to use that word today. Extra points also for prompt response.
posted by Miles Long at 9:29 AM on September 1, 2004

People have children. "Kids", as you say, is for goats.
posted by reklaw at 9:32 AM on September 1, 2004

Miles: exactly.
posted by bshort at 9:33 AM on September 1, 2004

A shrewdness

Who decides these things? Can anyone have a go, or is there a committee?

If so, I'd like to have a word about a "fluther of jellyfish" and a "gang of elks". I think some members of the team are working harder than others.

On the original question, iconomy has it.
posted by penguin pie at 9:41 AM on September 1, 2004

A baby ape is called a monkey. When they grow big their tails fall off, just like frogs.
posted by Space Coyote at 9:41 AM on September 1, 2004 [2 favorites]

A baby ape is a "baby."

A baby monkey is an "infant."

But a baby cockroach is a "nymph."

At least according to this site.
posted by baltimore at 9:45 AM on September 1, 2004

reklaw- 'kids' is a diminutive of 'children', and about as well-accepted.

so it's 'baby apes' then. Seems fitting, as they're so close to us. I was hoping for something a little more quaint.

i'm writing a little story which takes place on the Planet of the Apes and wanted to know what they would call their kids. You know, they have a lot more and more diversified races than we do- chimpanzees, ourangoutans, gorillas, baboons, bonobos...
posted by Miles Long at 9:48 AM on September 1, 2004

Nice one coyote!
posted by Richat at 9:48 AM on September 1, 2004

oh yeah...

thanks!
posted by Miles Long at 9:49 AM on September 1, 2004

chimpanzees

Chimplets.

ourangoutans

Clints.

gorillas

Magillas.

baboons

Babyoons.

bonobos

Filthy disgusting perverts.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:11 AM on September 1, 2004

The poem you put in my head:

The Guppy
Ogden Nash

Whales have calves,
Cats have kittens,
Bears have cubs,
Bats have bittens,
Swans have cygnets,
Seals have puppies,
But guppies just have little guppies.

posted by PinkStainlessTail at 10:24 AM on September 1, 2004

Apelets.
posted by waldo at 10:57 AM on September 1, 2004

Damned, dirty, baby apes.
posted by aladfar at 11:48 AM on September 1, 2004

Google on "nouns of assemblage" for other collective nouns

Sometimes I get to thinking that Japanese counters are much more irregular than plurals really need to be. At those times, I always think of geese, oxen, and wolves, and it always adjusts my perspective a bit. Now I'll get to think of a gaggle of geese, a yoke of oxen, and a course of wolves. Hurrah for English!
posted by vorfeed at 3:46 PM on September 1, 2004