Animals have the loudest voices. Which animal is the loudest? An animal that loves to scream
Every living creature needs a voice. It is needed not only for everyday communication, but also to warn its relatives of danger, to demonstrate its power, limitless strength and fearlessness, and to intimidate other animals. In addition, the voice often helps to attract one's partner during mating periods in animals. Some bird species use their voice to stun their prey. The louder an animal's voice is, the more likely it is to be heard. Today's article will focus on the animals with the loudest voices.
10 Loudest Animals on the Planet
Blue whale
The owner of the loudest voice is the blue whale. The sounds produced by this giant mammal have the highest intensity - 188 decibels. The voice of a blue whale can be heard at a distance of 800 kilometers. If a person is close to a whale at the moment when it calls, it may rupture its lungs and eardrums. That's how loud the whale sounds are.
Sperm whale
The sounds of a sperm whale are as powerful in intensity as the sounds made by a low-flying helicopter. Interestingly, baby sperm whales scream even louder than adults. While adult sperm whales scream with an intensity of up to 116 decibels, calves scream with an intensity of up to 162 decibels. Such sounds are very dangerous for human health, as they can cause serious injury or severe shock.
Hippopotamus
The merciless hippopotamus ended up in third place in the ranking. Its roar can be compared to strong peals of thunder in the sky. At times the roar of the hippopotamus reaches 110 decibels. The sounds made by a hippopotamus can be heard for several hundred kilometers. In addition, the roar of a hippopotamus also sounds very intimidating. Hippos are the only mammals that can make sounds even while underwater, where they spend most of its time.
Cicada
The singing of males can reach up to 100 decibels. The sound can be compared to an incredibly noisy orchestra playing up close. Females do not make sounds as loud as males, but their singing is also quite loud. Males make such loud sounds during the mating season.
Water bugs
It's incredible, but such small creatures are capable of producing sounds reaching up to 99 decibels. Despite such a high volume, a person is not able to hear these sounds, since the bugs “sing” deep underwater. During the transition of sounds from one environment to another, 99% of the volume disappears. The remaining 1% people are unable to hear.
Toadfish
The next aquatic creature that amazes with its roar is the toad fish. She is capable of producing sounds reaching up to 100 decibels to scare away her enemies. Her voice resembles a grumble, a grinding sound, and even a beep, and this depends on the persistence of her enemy.
Koala
Everyone knows these lovely marsupials, which are called “marsupial bears”. However, koalas are not as harmless as they seem at first glance. Their loud cries are more reminiscent of the roar of an entire herd of bison. Zoologists who have studied koalas for a long time have come to the conclusion that such a voice helps animals mislead their enemies, since when they hear such a roar, they believe that a terrible beast is hiding in the bushes, and not a cute koala.
Elephant
It also turned out to be one of the loudest. The sounds of an elephant can be heard for several tens of kilometers. The intensity of the sounds depends on the size of the elephant, on its physical shape and on how important information it wants to communicate to its relatives.
Howler monkey
Just by the name alone you can understand that the monkey has a loud voice. The special structure of the vocal apparatus allows the primate to shout to its enemies or relatives within a radius of several kilometers. Howler monkeys even have a special ritual: in the morning the leader begins to “sing a song,” after which his “song” is picked up by the female, and as a result, all this develops into a collective “singing.” An interesting fact is that each “choir” has its own part.
Indian peacock
The only bird on the list is the Indian peacock. Everyone knows peacocks as incredibly beautiful birds, but few people know that they are also very noisy creatures. The peacock is capable of making heart-rending sounds that can be heard for several kilometers. Such strong sounds hurt the ears and at times even irritate. The birds themselves are very beautiful, but their voice is completely unpleasant.
The sounds made by marine mammals, such as whales or sperm whales, can be heard due to the fact that they propagate in low-frequency pulses in a dense medium - water, over hundreds of kilometers. It is true that the initial volume of these sounds is quite high. Thus, the blue whale makes sounds with an intensity of up to 188 dB, and the sperm whale - up to 116 dB, despite the fact that sperm whale calves call their mother with screams with an intensity of up to 162 dB.Scientists have learned to recognize, by the volume of sounds these giants make, not only their size, but also which clan the animal belongs to. From these sounds you can also determine what is in this moment it is busy - hunting, feeding, courtship, raising young, or simply communicating with each other.
Land animals
Of the animals living on land, the crocodile is considered the loudest. During the mating season, males can make sounds with a volume of 108-110 dB. However, it is not far from him - the volume of sounds produced by these animals can reach 106 dB.The loudness of a donkey's roar is 78 dB, and it is considered a record holder in the category of domestic animals.
In Central and South America - howler monkeys. As follows from them, they are also masters of shouting. In males, under the tongue there is a bone bladder, in which the sounds produced under certain conditions begin to resonate, amplifying many times over. The cry of the males, of course, is not very euphonious - it resembles both the braying of a donkey and the barking of a dog, but it can be heard for many kilometers.
Among the birds, the Indian peacock has the loudest voice. His sharp guttural screams can be heard several kilometers away.
The loudest insects
Despite their modest size, some insects can compete with animals in the volume of sounds they make. Thus, an ordinary water beetle of the subspecies Micronecta scholtzi can chirp with a volume of up to 105 dB, although its size and weight are millions of times less than that of the same sperm whale or crocodile.Male cicadas can also produce particularly loud sounds, which use the vibration of ribbed plates in two resonator cavities on the abdomen to generate them. Females can hear these sounds from a distance of several kilometers, and the human ear can distinguish them from several hundred meters.
An insect such as the mole cricket, which lives deeply buried in the ground and feeds on the roots of plants, also does not miss the opportunity to crawl to the surface and make a sound, the volume of which can reach 92 dB, although the chirping of a mole cricket can be heard very rarely.
Like humans, all living things make different sounds. Thus, animals transmit information: they inform each other about their location, warn of danger, mark their territory, demonstrate their strength, call for a female during the mating season, or intimidate their competitors.
The sounds they make are so loud that they sometimes travel (both on land and in water) over distances of several hundred meters, or even more. And the louder and more powerful the animal’s voice, the greater its chances of achieving the desired success.
Blue whale
The blue whale (lat. Balaenoptera musculus) is the largest and loudest mammal on our planet. The sounds made by a blue whale travel over a radius of up to 800 kilometers, and their volume is 188-189 dB (decibels). If you imagine that a person is at such a distance from a screaming whale, then most likely he will receive severe injuries, such as ruptured lungs and eardrums. According to data provided by scientists, whale calls have been recorded even at a distance of about 1,600 km.
Sperm whale
The sperm whale (lat. Physeter macrocephalus) is a large marine mammal capable of producing sounds up to 116 dB. In intensity, these sounds can be compared to the sounds made by a working jackhammer or a low-flying helicopter. But newborn baby sperm whales are capable of vocalizing louder than their parents - up to 162 dB. For humans, such intense sounds are very dangerous and can cause very serious injuries.
Hippopotamus
The common hippopotamus (lat. Hippopotamus amphibius) is a large mammal whose roar can only be compared to thunderclaps overhead. Their intensity is up to 110 dB. The roar of the hippopotamus is very terrifying and can be heard for several hundred kilometers around. The most interesting thing is that of all the mammals that live on land, only the hippopotamus is capable of making sounds in water, which is also a second home for it.
Cicada
Cicadas (lat. Cicadidae) are insects whose “singing” plunges many residents of the East Coast of the United States into real shock. During the mating season, male cicadas produce sounds that reach a volume of 100-120 dB - this is comparable to the sound of a train arriving in the subway. And such singing concerts last about 4-6 weeks.
Water bug
The water bug (lat. Micronecta scholtzi) is an aquatic insect from the family of paddlefish (lat. Corixidae). These bugs produce sounds with an intensity exceeding 99-99.2 dB, which is comparable to the noise of a passing freight train. But, despite such high performance, we cannot hear them, since 99% of the sound volume is lost when moving from one medium to another (air/water).
Toadfish
Toadfish (lat. Opsanus tau) is an inhabitant of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. It prefers muddy or sandy bottoms and hides there, burying itself up to its eyes. So that no one disturbs the toad fish from lying quietly in its area, it has to make special scaring sounds with an intensity of up to 100 dB. This sound is similar to a grunt, beep or grinding, it all depends on how persistent the competitor is.
Koala
Koala (lat. Phascolarctos cinereus) - when you look at this cute animal, you can never imagine that it is capable of making such loud, rather unpleasant, roar-like sounds that resemble the roar of bison. In the course of the research, scientists found that koalas thus mislead potential predators by telling them about their “incredible” size.
Elephants
Elephants (lat. Elephantidae) are the largest land animal and one of the loudest. The trumpet sounds made by elephants (from 8 to 90 dB) are carried over a distance of more than 30 km in radius. The intensity of the sounds produced directly depends on the size of the animal, its mood, physical condition and, of course, on the type of information communicated to their relatives, and possibly to their enemies.
Red or chestnut howler
Red or ginger howler (lat. Alouatta seniculus) - the name of the monkey speaks for itself. These primates can scream with such force that their loud roar can be heard over a distance of up to 4 km. Usually the ringleader of the morning “singing” is the leader, and after him the rest of the group members begin to shout. The volume of the sound produced by the howler is up to 90 dB.
African lion
The African lion (lat. Panthera leo krugeri) is a predator whose roar can scare anyone on the African savannah. As befits the king of beasts, with his loud growl he communicates his physical superiority, or attracts potential partners. Its menacing roar carries over a distance of up to 8 km and is equal to 87 dB.
Peacock
Peacock (lat. Pavo cristatus) is a large bird that lives in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. This is a very beautiful bird, but the sounds it makes are shocking. Her heart-rending screams can be heard for several kilometers around. These birds are very pleasant to look at, but listening to them is unpleasant and even unbearable. And I would really like such a beautiful bird to also have a charming voice...
It is interesting that the volume of rustling leaves is 10 dB, but the volume of a normal conversation is 40 dB. When the sound intensity exceeds 130 dB, there is a threat to human health.
If you hear the deep, deafening bark of a dog, the drawn-out meow of a cat, or the creaking croak of a crow, then know that all these sounds are not even close to the deafening roar. blue whale. After all, the blue whale is the loudest animal in the world. Its volume level is 188 dB (decibels), which exceeds even the sound level of jet engines of an airplane taking off, which is 150 dB. It is not surprising that acoustic instruments can reliably “detect” a roaring blue whale at a distance of up to 800 km (sound travels better in water than in air).
Blue whale sound
But the blue whale lives in the depths of the ocean, and many of us are unlikely to encounter one, so it makes sense to find the loudest animals that live on the surface. The record holder among mammals, without a doubt, is (in the illustration to the text), whose screams can be heard at a distance of up to 5 km.
Howler screams
A frog can compete with a howler monkey coki: This small amphibian, about 4 cm long, can produce sounds with a volume of 100 dB, which is comparable to the volume of a playing orchestra.
The sound of the coca frog
And the loudest feathered inhabitant of the planet is a bird Guajaro, living in South America. Their shrill calls reach 100 dB and visiting one of the caves where the Guajaro nest can be a real test for your eardrums.
Guajaro bird calls
But if we compare the loudest inhabitant of the planet in proportion to its size, then the undoubted leader here will be a bug from the family rowers. The length of its body is only 2 mm, but at the same time the insect manages to make sounds at a level of 100 dB! Interestingly, the rowing bug produces a powerful sound due to the friction of its penis against its stomach.