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Tasmanian devil
At a carcass, Tasmanian devils can fill the air with rough growls and sudden shrieks. The different calls overlap as the animals jostle for a share. It’s the sharp scream cutting through the lower growls that gives the whole scene its remarkable sound.
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Siamang
A siamang inflates a pouch beneath its chin to make its calls resonate. A pair can combine booming notes and higher barks in a duet that carries well through the forest. The swelling throat sac makes the most resonant notes especially easy to recognize on video.
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Black howler
The black howler monkey’s roar can sound like a motor trying to start. An enlarged hyoid bone in its throat helps amplify the call. A deep, rough roar is a useful signature because the monkeys can be much easier to hear than to pick out in the canopy.
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Hippopotamus
A hippopotamus can string a wheezy intake and a string of honks into one call. Other hippos respond differently to familiar and unfamiliar voices. The rubbery sound can carry across water before you get any hint of the animal making it.
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Cheetah
A resting cheetah can make a steady purr that sounds remarkably like a much smaller cat. A close recording brings out the regular pulses, which can be easy to miss beside the louder sounds people associate with big cats.
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Western diamondback rattlesnake
A western diamondback rattlesnake gives a rapid, dry buzz with the tip of its tail. Interlocking hollow segments knock together as the tail vibrates. This is a warning sound, and in some recordings a distinct hiss comes through behind the rattle.
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Gastrophryne carolinensis
A male eastern narrow-mouthed toad makes a nasal bleat that can sound like a lamb. The unexpected sound comes from a small frog with a pointed snout. Once the note repeats, the resemblance is hard to unhear.
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American alligator
A big American alligator can send a bellow across a wetland. A male can also produce a low vibration that makes water jump around its back. The rippling water and the loud bellow are both part of the display.
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Oyster toadfish
The oyster toadfish has a mating call so much like a boat horn that it’s called a boatwhistle. A male buzzes his swim bladder with fast contractions of specialized muscles. The call has a buzzy onset and then settles into a steadier tone.
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Red-bellied piranha
A red-bellied piranha can make a short bark when it faces another fish. Muscles vibrate the swim bladder to produce that sound and a lower drumlike pulse. The quick snapping sounds recorded during a chase come from the jaws.
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Alpheidae
A snapping shrimp’s click starts with an oversized claw. When it shuts, a jet of water forms a bubble that rapidly collapses, producing a loud snap. In a recording of many shrimp, the individual clicks blend into a crackle.
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Humpback whale
A male’s underwater song moves through a series of repeating themes, sometimes for nearly half an hour. The pattern changes over time, so a recording from one year can sound different from the next.
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Bearded seal
A bearded seal’s underwater call sounds like a whistle drawn down in one long, wavering slide. Males produce these trills during the breeding season. The slow sweep makes the call stand out even among other sounds in an underwater recording.
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Northern Elephant Seal
Male northern elephant seals make a rattling series of pulses, with an individual rhythm that other males can learn to recognize. A familiar call can carry information about who is nearby before the caller comes into view. Listen for the spaces between the pulses as much as the notes.
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Madagascar hissing cockroach
A Madagascar hissing cockroach forces air through small openings along its body called spiracles. The sound comes out as a dry, steady hiss. It can serve as a warning when the insect is disturbed, and hisses also occur in courtship and between competing males.
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Magicicada septendecim
The calling song of Linnaeus’s 17-year cicada can sound as if it is saying “pharaoh” over and over. A single male’s long, low call has a change in pitch that’s easier to hear by itself. A group of males calling at once blends into a more continuous drone.
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