What Does “A Destruction of Pallas’s Cats” Mean?
“Destruction” is a term more commonly associated with wildcats in general rather than Pallas’s cats specifically, there isn’t a well-documented collective noun unique to this species, so it tends to borrow from the wider “destruction of wildcats” tradition. Pallas’s cats (also called manuls) are small, stocky wild cats native to the grasslands and rocky steppe of Central Asia, instantly recognizable for their extremely dense, long fur and flattened, low-set ears.
Their thick coat, the densest of any cat species, is an adaptation to the harsh, cold environments they live in, and it also makes them appear rounder and fluffier than they actually are underneath. Pallas’s cats are solitary and famously difficult to spot in the wild, relying on stillness and camouflage against rocky terrain rather than speed, since they aren’t particularly fast runners compared to other small cats.
Example: “A destruction of Pallas’s cats would be a strange sight, these are famously solitary, well-camouflaged cats rarely seen together at all.”
Related: Collective Nouns for Mammals