Farmers in Russia's Saratov region have begged President Vladimir Putin to help them deal with a swarming population of saiga antelopes, which have destroyed crops and contaminated water supplies
Okay, “swarming herds of antelopes” would satisfy me. Or “plague of a million antelopes.”
Maybe it’s just me, I feel like swarming is something you do with lots of legs and maybe some wings. And the ickiness of small bodies moving in waves, chittering and buzzing.
Thundering hooves and sharp horns feels like a wholly different terror.
I would understand that “swarm” here is used as a noun, destroy is the verb. The verb uses the third-person singular form (destroys) therefore the subject can’t be “1 million antelopes” (plural), but should be singular, like “one swarm of antelopes”.
Surely antelopes roam in herds, not swarms? They’re not bees.
I think a swarm of antelopes sounds incredibly terrifying:
Just a mass hooves, fur, and antlers; can’t tell where one ends and the next begins; roaming across the land, leaving only destruction in its wake…
pffft…it’s only a million.
the rumbling kicks in
This whole thread is just so Lemmy it makes me laugh.
Ants swarm, though.
Do they elope?
Definitely not! They are quite opposed to it. Hence their name, anti-lope?
Only if they are in love, from different colonies, and if the queen of the girl-ants colony forbids her from seeing him.
can 1 million be considered a herd? a swarm of locusts can turn intoa plague. it can also refer to plague of field mice, or rabbits.
Okay, “swarming herds of antelopes” would satisfy me. Or “plague of a million antelopes.”
Maybe it’s just me, I feel like swarming is something you do with lots of legs and maybe some wings. And the ickiness of small bodies moving in waves, chittering and buzzing.
Thundering hooves and sharp horns feels like a wholly different terror.
“swarm” here is a verb, not a noun. As in, “to swarm”.
“The sappers exploded their charges under the city walls, and the invader’s troops swarmed in through the gap.”
I would understand that “swarm” here is used as a noun, destroy is the verb. The verb uses the third-person singular form (destroys) therefore the subject can’t be “1 million antelopes” (plural), but should be singular, like “one swarm of antelopes”.
But as used in the headline, “…antelope swarm destroys…” the verb is “destroys,” not “swarm.”
No, it’s pretty obviously being used as a noun here.