{"id":29981,"date":"2023-06-22T17:07:17","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T15:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=77985"},"modified":"2023-06-22T17:35:43","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T15:35:43","slug":"what-is-the-loudest-animal-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/what-is-the-loudest-animal-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the loudest animal in the world?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The answer lies underwater, where the largest creature on earth sings at a deafening volume <\/p>

By BBC Wildlife Magazine\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 22 June 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

When it comes to making noise in the natural world, the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus)<\/i> takes the podium for being the loudest animal. Not only is it the largest animal on the planet, it\u2019s also the most vocal.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This marine mammal can emit rumbling calls, known as \u2018songs\u2019, recorded at over 180 decibels (dB) \u2013 loud enough to cause permanent damage to human eardrums.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\nIts cacophony comes with a purpose. <a href=\""https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/marine-animals\/blue-whale-facts\/"\">Blue whales<\/a><\/strong> are baleen whales, meaning they have bristly baleen plates instead of teeth, which are used to filter small prey from sea water. <\/span><\/p>\nThey are often solitary, swimming alone except when mating or migrating \u2013 so they need a booming call to communicate with fellow whales in the expansive submarine world to find mates and develop social bonds. In fact, a blue whale\u2019s song, generated by its super-large larynx and vocal chords, can be heard thousands of kilometres away.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nToothed whales, such as the <a href=\""https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/marine-animals\/sperm-whale-facts\/"\">sperm whale<\/a><\/strong>, also make a racket under the waves. Using echolocation, a sperm whale can find its prey (often a jumbo squid) at depths of up to 1,800 metres. Its high-pitched clicks can reach 230dB, technically louder than a blue whale\u2019s song, but last for a mere fraction of the time. When considering combined loudness and duration, the blue whale comes up trumps.<\/span><\/p>\nBack on land, various creatures vie for the title of loudest land animal. The <a href=\""https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/what-is-echolocation\/"\">echolocation<\/a><\/strong> signals of the greater bulldog bat can hit a piercing 140dB, as can the screams of a howler monkey. A person shouting is around 85dB, while a baby crying can exceed 100dB. So, next time you can\u2019t \u2018hear yourself think\u2019, be grateful for the limits of the human voice box.<\/span><\/p>\nWhile the<a class=\""standard-card-new__article-title"\" href=\""https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/birds\/whats-the-loudest-bird\/"\"> loudest bird in the world<\/a><\/strong> is responsible for an ear-splitting sound that\u2019s far from the tuneful birdsong you would expect<\/p>\n<section class=\""highlight\"> <div class=\""highlight__content\" editor-content=\"\"> \n<ul>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/birds\/strongest-bird\/"\">What is the strongest bird in the world?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/which-big-cat-has-the-strongest-bite\/"\">Which big cat has the strongest bite?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/reptiles\/smallest-crocodile\/"\">What\u2019s the smallest crocodile?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/reptiles\/smallest-snake-in-the-world\/"\">What\u2019s the smallest snake in the world?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> \u00a0<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The answer lies underwater, where the largest creature on earth sings at a deafening volume <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":29982,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/06\/what-is-the-loudest-animal-in-the-world-scaled.jpg",2560,1703,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/06\/what-is-the-loudest-animal-in-the-world-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/06\/what-is-the-loudest-animal-in-the-world-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/06\/what-is-the-loudest-animal-in-the-world-768x511.jpg",768,511,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/06\/what-is-the-loudest-animal-in-the-world-1024x681.jpg",800,532,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/06\/what-is-the-loudest-animal-in-the-world-1536x1022.jpg",1536,1022,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/06\/what-is-the-loudest-animal-in-the-world-2048x1362.jpg",2048,1362,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The answer lies underwater, where the largest creature on earth sings at a deafening volume","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/29981"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}