Animal Sounds

Annoying Animal Sounds

Since I recently wrote about animal sounds that I like, I thought I would blog about animal sounds that are annoying. I like most animals, so I had to think a little bit about animal sounds that are annoying. Here's what I came up with:

1. Braying donkey

This can get really annoying. I worked at a wildlife park for about a year, and there was a herd of donkeys on the premises. One or two or more would start braying every morning. It grated on my nerves.

2. Bellering Cow

Unfortunately, I live across the road from a large animal vet. Most of the time he has 15 or 20 cows, bulls and calves in the lot next to his office. I have to put up with a cow bellering or even a bull at night. I have no idea what they are trying to convey, but it's disturbing to me.

3. Rooster

A rooster that crows endlessly all through the day and night is pretty darn annoying. This is especially true when all you want to do is get some sleep.

4. Guinea

This lovely little ground bird has the most annoying sound ever. I know a guy who has a whole flock that live on his farm. When he calls, all you hear in the background are guineas. Ugh.

5. Bullfrog

I'm kind of torn between this one. It is sort of a cool sound. Then, if you have to listen to it for awhile, it can get annoying.

6. Cricket

Technically, this isn't an animal. It's an insect. But, the sound it makes is definitely annoying. Probably everyone has had that experience where they are in a room trying to sleep and the incessant chirp of a cricket starts. Then you turn on the light and the chirping stops, but you can't locate the little guy. Not fun.

So, that's my list of annoying animal noises. What's yours?

Dolphins Call Each Other By Name

Special whistle sequences identify individuals

While we may name our pets, even teach them to recognize a specific name as their own, we usually don't think of animals having monikers on their own terms. I'm fond of that Neil Gaiman line in Coraline that explains how cats don't need names because they know exactly who they are. Animals generally seem to recognize each other as individuals even without verbal tags. But research indicates that dolphins, perhaps our closest intellectual relatives, do in fact have individual names for themselves.

Scientists have researched the whistles of dolphins for decades. They've long speculated that the complex series of whistles and clicks have specific meanings, but are only just beginning to realize that dolphins are able to call out to each other by name.

Vincent Janik from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland has spent years tracking dolphins with underwater microphones. He's made recordings of the dolphin pods that swim around in St. Andrews Bay and has surmised that all those squeaks and chirps that are unintelligible to human ears are actually used to differentiate one dolphin from another. Janik discovered that dolphins actually name themselves when they're babies, unlike humans, who need to be taught their names when first learning to speak. Once they've come up with a name, they introduce themselves to other members of their pod, who remember the name and then refer to them as such.

Not only does each dolphin have its own signature whistled name, there are also "words" for different types of interactions. A sequence of whistles may indicate that a dolphin is introducing itself to another dolphin in a friendly way; the marine equivalent to shaking hands. These types of communications are important when one pod of dolphins runs into another unfamiliar pod. They're a way of preemptively keeping the peace and avoiding West Side Story-style dolphin showdowns. Certain types of call-and-response whistles can also indicate that it's okay for two pods to swim together, or bro down, for a while.

It's not yet known just how complicated dolphin language can get. Researchers have observed that dolphins use certain whistles to refer to certain objects while in captivity. It's entirely possible that they have words for objects, places, and maybe even concepts in addition to having individual names. Dolphins are among the only animals to make up their own specific sounds instead of just relying on their voice tones to recognize each other. These marine mammals may be more linguistically creative than we had previously thought.

Animal Sounds I Like

If I had to make a list of animal sounds that I like, they would be the following:

1. Song bird's song

As I am writing this, I am serenaded by the beautiful sound of a song bird -- not sure which -- outside of my window. It's light, it's melodic (although somewhat repetitive) and it's pleasant. I could definitely listen all day.

2. Cat's purr

Currently, I don't have any feline friends, but I did at one time. I love to hear a cat purr. It's a sound that, more often than not, shows their contentment.

3. Woodpecker's Work

Now this may sound strange, but I think it's really cool to sit in a forest and listen to a woodpecker working on a tree. The rat-a-tat-tat of its beak against the wood resounds through the trees.

4. Dog's tail wagging

While you can't actually hear a dog's tail wagging, you can hear it if it thumps on the floor or against something. I like this sound. It tells me that my dog is happy.

5. Horse galloping

In the same way that I like the stacatto beat of the woodpecker's beak, I also like the sound of horse's hooves galloping.

Now, none of these sounds are the type of sounds that I'd want to listen to 24/7 -- with the exception of a bird's song. Even that's iffy, now that I think about it. That could get old after a while. Yet, I am glad to hear these sounds on occasion.

Owl Sounds: Are They Really Indications of Something to Come?

For the longest time, I viewed the owl as a symbol of wisdom. I got this idea from the books that I read that portrayed the owl as wise and knowing. You know, the wise old owl with the eyeglasses. Then, when I got older, I started hearing things about the owl being a prophet of sorts.

Okay, there's a lot of things to debate about an owl being a prophet. First of all, it's a bird. Second of all, how would it have that type of knowledge? Although, it is kind of eerie if you take a second to look into the eyes of the owl in the picture. They are dark and mysterious. Do they actually hold secrets?

People once, and probably some still do, that hearing the hoot of an owl meant that someone was about to die. Now, I don't know about you, but I have heard an owl hooting, and no one -- at least no one I knew -- died. In fact, it wasn't too long ago, about six months. My husband, son and I were enjoying some outdoors time one afternoon and evening and we saw and heard and owl hooting at sunset. We didn't experience any death, but we did become incredibly ill that night with a stomach virus. Hmmm.....

The American Indians had many different beliefs about owls. For instance, the Apaches believed that to dream about an owl meant death would come soon. Yikes!

I personally think that if there are enough owls around, you'll hear them hoot. Their hoots can coincide with certain events and cause people to believe certain things. I really don't think they possess any special knowledge or an ability to predict the future. But that's me. What do you think?

Did You Know the Sloth Makes Sounds?

When I think of a sloth, I think about it being slow, lethargic and silent. Why I associate silence with a sloth is probably because I envision it creeping slowly through the tree tops and then stopping to take a long rest. An animal that's so slow brings to mind silence, kind of like a turtle. Bottom line: I just don't think of a sloth as a noisy being.

Well, it turns out that they do make sounds. The babies make bleating type sounds if they become separated from their parent. (Hey, it's a jungle out there and those little guys have to have a way to let mom know where they are!) Once I think about it, it would be pretty sad if the babies didn't have a way to alert their parent. So, being able to make a sound makes sense.

Babies also make squeaking sounds in certain situations. I found a video on the Internet of some baby sloths in captivity. The caretakers were bathing them and the babies were not pleased. They were making high-pitched squeaks, which I assume were a sign of their distress.

Adults, at least the three-toed sloth variety, can actually make long, high-pitched sounds that echo through the trees. Why they do this, I don't know. Perhaps its how they communicate with their sloth community? Or maybe they just like to hear themselves cry out.

Sloths may make other sounds, too. Maybe humans just haven't witnessed them. No matter whether sloths have a wide and varied bank of sounds, they do have a means of communication and they use it.

A Sound We Share With Elephants and Other Interesting Facts

Yes, we do share a sound in common with elephants. No, it's not the loud trumpeting sound of an angry mother elephant driving a predator away from her baby. No, it's not the excited squeaks of a baby elephant. It's something much more subtle. The sound we share in common with elephants is a stomach growl. But, the sound of their stomach growl is thought to mean something different than what the sound of our stomach growl means to us. When our stomach growls, it's often intrepreted as a sign of hunger. When an elephant's stomach growls, it's thought to be a sign of contentment or a signal to other elephants that everything is A-OK.

Elephants can make sounds in other ways that we can't. For instance, elephants can communicate in low frequency sounds -- too low for human ears to hear -- over great distances of five to six miles. Also, each elephant may have its own signature growl for communication purposes.

The loud trumpeting sound that elephants sometimes make in alarm causes the members of the group to form a circle around the smaller elephants of the herd. So, the trumpet signals danger besides anger.

While the sound I most associate with the elephant is the trumpet, I've learned that there's a complex range of sounds that elephants possess and emit to communicate with elephants and other animals.

In fact, the more I investigate animal sounds, the more I learn about animals in general. The more I learn, the more I realize that there's a lot more to many animals than what I know.

Animals and Their Sounds

Have you ever thought about how the sounds some animals make match its level of threat to others? For instance, think about a tiger. When it makes noises, they sound beastly -- from the ferocious growl to the guttural sounds it makes. Now, think about a domestic cat. It's meow is not intimidating at all. If it becomes upset, it can make the hair stand up on the back of your neck, but it doesn't sound particularly threatening -- at least not to humans. Think about the different kinds of bears or the lion. They all sound threatening. They all emit deep sounds. Think about another animal that's typically docile: a goat. Sure, it can chew your clothes and butt you, but is it a major threat? No. The sound it makes is a bleating sound -- not threatening at all.

What about a not so docile animal -- a rattlesnake. What kind of sound does it make? It rattles to warn others it's about to strike. I think its sound is a poor match for its level of threat. So, not all animals emit a sound that match its level of threat to others.

Then, there are animals that have the potential to harm and emit no sound. Think about a poisonous spider. You don't hear anything from them. They just bite. Think about poisonous varieties of snakes that don't make a sound. What about a Great White shark? You won't hear anything from it before it attacks.

In some cases, the sounds an animal makes match its level of threat. In others, not so much. In others, not at all. So, don't rely on sound alone to save you from a potential attack.

Animal Sounds You Don't Recognize -- At First

Nothing is more unnerving than when you hear an unfamiliar animal sound in the dead of night. It's happened to me more than once. Waking up out of a deep sleep to a unnerving sound isn't my idea of a good time.

The first time I heard an animal sound I didn't recognize, I was asleep in my apartment. I woke to a high-pitched wailing. I was so startled, I leapt out of bed and into the living area. My sister, whom I was sharing the apartment with at the time, came out of her room, too. Then, we heard the sound again. My sister recovered her sense of logic and said, "It's the cat." Sure enough, our sweet little kitty was wailing and spitting at the window. She sounded other-worldly. Apparently, another cat -- or dog -- was outside of the window and she was expressing her irritation.

The second time I heard an eerie, unrecognizable animal sound was recently. I was watching a movie late at night, and I heard this half-braying half-howling sound. I jumped up out of my chair and started trying to pinpoint the source. At the time, we were taking care of my father-in-law's labrador retriever. He was lonely, I guess, so he was doing his version of howling. It sounded like no other dog I've ever heard. Again, it was other-worldly. I went outside, spent a few minutes petting him and talking to him and he stopped.

The next time you here an animal sound you don't recognize, give it a few seconds. You'll probably realize the source before you know it.

The Elk's Eerie Call

The first time I heard an elk bugle, I was in Colorado with my family . The sound started with deep tones that became higher -- almost like a high-pitched horn. We were in Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes, Colorado. It was foggy out and the sound floated across the brisk morning air. I remember gasping and asking my dad, "What was that sound?" He told me that it was a bull (male) elk.

Information from a blog on Texas A&M University website states that elk use bugling to communicate their size and strength to other male elks. The lower the frequency of the bugle, the bigger the bull. This is helpful during mating season and reduces the competition for the biggest and baddest elks. It's also may serve as a way for the male elk to attract females or to manage their harem. Yes, apparently elks have harems.

Whatever the reasons for the bugling sound, there's no doubt it was eerie the first time I heard it -- and the second, and the third. Eight or nine years later, I worked at wildlife park for about a year. The park was home to a herd of elk -- some of them bulls. I had to be at work at 7 a.m., so I had the pleasure of hearing those calls echo across the land as I prepared for the opening of the park. I still found the sound eerie, but I liked the sound.

I haven't heard an elk bugle firsthand in years. I wouldn't mind hearing it again -- preferably while in the mountains on a brisk, foggy morning. It would bring back some great memories.

Do You Understand Your Cat's Sounds?

"Kitties who are inquisitive or want attention often emit a soft meow, meant to gain your undivided attention."

I have had the pleasure of having many cats as pets during my lifetime, and I can say with certainty that cats communicate through vocalization or sound. Some sounds are urgent, some are disturbing and some are pleasing, depending on the kitty’s mood.

Anyone who has been in the presence of a hungry cat knows the meaning of that desperate yowl accompanied by constant staring. Sometimes a hungry cat will even accompany his pleas by raising up on your leg or jumping onto forbidden kitchen counters.

Then, there is the sound of contentment -- that deep, throaty, satisfied purr. Cats exhibit this when you take the time to show your affection through an ear scratch or a belly rub, or while they lavish their affection on you while rubbing against your legs.

Cats also have hair-raising sounds they exercise when they are upset or scared. I’ve personally been awoken to the sounds of a wailing cat at the window that spotted an “enemy” outside. Also known as caterwauling, these feline sounds can be quite unnerving to listeners.

Kitties who are inquisitive or want attention often emit a soft meow, meant to gain your undivided attention.

While feline lovers may be able to perfectly understand what their cats want or need, a 2002 study at Cornell University stated that cats are probably not using a true language to communicate. The logic behind that statement is based on many reasons, one being that cats don’t understand the meaning of their meows. Yet, we humans are able to assign meanings to our feline friend’s meows and act accordingly.

Kitties who are inquisitive or want attention often emit a soft meow, meant to gain your undivided attention.