There are so many ways that one could use the collective nouns for animals in writing. I challenge you to pick at least one of the collective nouns below and somehow work it into a story you are working on. Or you could come up with a completely new story, one that has the chosen collective noun at it center.

A congregation of alligators, crocodiles, or plovers - Crocodiles and alligators, both reptilian predators, are social animals and tend to group together. A group of plovers is also known as a congregation, but plovers are not reptiles. They are a widely distributed group of wading birds.

A convocation of eagles - A convocation is an assembly. An eagle is a predatory bird, so I would use a convocation of eagles to describe a group of them gathered around a carcass. A convocation of eagles, therefore, could be used to appropriately describe a group of money-hungry relatives waiting on their rich father, uncle, grandfather, etc. to die.

A corps of geese or giraffes - A corps is a group of people acting together or under common direction. In my mind, this pretty well describes a group of geese they fly in formation through the air. A corps of geese was the cause of the plane crash.

Corps is also a military term. The military comes to mind when I think about a corps of giraffes racing across the savannah in Africa.

A cote of doves - A cote is a dove cage or a place where doves find shelter. A cote of doves flew into the cote during the fierce rainstorm.

A coterie of prairie dogs - Prairie dogs like each other's company and live in colonies. Each colony is divided up into coteries, made up of underground burrows and tunnels. A coterie is made up on a family of these cute little chattering animals.

A cover or of coots - Coot is a medium-sized water birds. Strong swimmers and divers, they strongly resemble ducks, but are members of the rail family of birds.

A covey of grouse, partridges, ptarmigans, or quail - Grouse, partridges, and quail are all members of the same bird family, Tetraonidae. The word 'covey' simply means a group or company.

A cowardice of cur dogs - Commonly thought of as randomly bred dogs or mixed-breed dogs, cur dogs are very useful to the farmer because of their size, strength, and loyalty. Why the collective noun 'cowardice' is used to describe a group or gathering of them is puzzling to me. Maybe to make them feel less worthy than their pure-bred counterparts?

A crash of rhinoceroses - Rhinos are not small animals. The white rhino, who isn't actually white, can weigh up to 6,000 pounds. The Sumatran rhino, who is the smallest rhino, still weighs in at 1,300 to 2,000 pounds. That doesn't sound too small to me. These huge land mammals can run between 30 – 40 mph, so it is easy to understand why a group of them is called a crash.

A crèche of penguins - Not just any group of penguins is a crèche, the French word for crib. A crèche of penguins is a group of chicks who are too big to stay in the nest, but they are not ready to swim off yet. Generally not guarded by adults, they still have their downy feathers and huddle together in order to stay warm.

A dazzle of zebras - When you see a group of zebras together with their black and white fur shining in the sun, it is a dazzling sight, so they are appropriately called a dazzle of zebras.

A crowd of porpoises - A calf is a young porpoise. A cow is a female porpoise and a bull is a male porpoise. A group or gathering of porpoises is a crowd.

A cry of hound dogs - I have found several different suggestions for the collective noun for hound dogs, but I think this one is the most fitting. A group of hound dogs do cry and they make a lot of noise doing so. No disrespect intended towards hound dogs or elderly ladies, but a cry of hound dogs puts me in mind of a group of elderly ladies spreading some really juicy gossip.