The collective noun used for a group of animals in the Sus genus (swine, pigs, or hogs) often reflects the species’ natural behavior and social structure. The correct term depends heavily on whether the animals are domestic or wild. This distinction is important because the environment and human interaction profoundly influence how these animals group together.
The Primary Collective Nouns
The two most widely accepted collective nouns for a group of hogs are “sounder” and “drove.” A sounder is the term most often used for a group of wild or feral swine, reflecting the tight-knit, naturally formed social unit they create.
A drove, conversely, typically refers to a group of domestic swine. This term likely originated from the practice of herding or driving livestock. Less common, historical terms for domestic groups include a passel or a team of hogs.
Group Names Based on Swine Type
The collective noun provides a precise description of the group’s composition and environment. A group of wild boars or feral hogs is almost exclusively called a sounder. These are family-based units consisting of related adult females (sows) and their offspring across different generations.
The term drove or drift is generally applied to domestic pigs on a farm or those moved for commercial purposes. These groupings are often artificial, dictated by human management rather than natural social bonds. For very young swine, a group of piglets born to a single mother is called a litter or a farrow. Mature male wild boars are largely solitary outside of the breeding season and are sometimes referred to as a singular.
Social Structure and Group Dynamics
The term “sounder” reflects the highly organized, cooperative social system of wild hogs. These groups are matriarchal, typically led by the oldest sow, and can range from a few individuals to over 30 members. The primary function of the sounder is to provide protection from predators, increase foraging efficiency, and ensure the survival of the young.
Group size fluctuates based on resource availability, sometimes swelling near concentrated food sources. Mature boars maintain solitary lives, only joining the sounder briefly for mating. This contrasts sharply with the social dynamics of domestic pigs, where a drove is often a collection of unrelated individuals housed together by agricultural necessity. Wild pigs rely on their group structure for defense, moving and rooting as a cohesive unit, establishing complex social hierarchies absent in the arbitrary groupings of a domestic drove.