Shh! What Was That Noise? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tiger

The genus Panthera includes the commonly grouped "big cats": namely, the lion, tiger, jaguar, and leopard. Of the four, the tiger is the largest and probably the most distinctive. Several species, including the Balinese and Javan, have gone extinct, and the remaining animals often have camouflage to protect against human predation or poaching.

Tigers are amazing predators for several reasons. First, they are huge (more than three meters and 300 kilograms in some cases) and come equipped with the teeth and claws shared by other big cats. Their stripes act as camouflage in the high grasses of India and southern Asia. However, the tiger's most unique, and often startling, weapon is its roar. Most of the roar is actually subaural for humans, so we can't hear it that loudly. However, scientists have concluded that the tones actually paralyze prey, including humans! In fact, the mechanism is being studied by some military scientists as a sort of audial stun gun.

Answer: Ferret

Scientists are unsure when the ferret, a close relative of the weasel was domesticated, although DNA evidence points to 2500 years ago, probably by the Egyptians or Romans. Today, they are primarily used as either pets or for hunting rabbits.

Ferrets are different from other domesticated animals like guinea pigs or other rodents. They are much larger (a grown ferret, on average, is 20 inches or approximately 0.5 meters from head to "tail"). They also have interesting behavior patterns. When two ferrets are playing with each other, the dominant animal will nip the more submissive ferret and flip it over, establishing a form of social hierarchy. Another fun aspect is the so-called Dance of Joy or "weasel war dance", in which ferrets essentially go crazy. They jump around everywhere and use up a lot of pent-up energy in an apparently meaningless display of fun. The dance is accompanied by the curious sound of a ferret "dooking," which sounds something like a bird tweeting and a baby laughing.

Answer: Humpback whale

The humpback whale is one of the most interesting whales in the sea; unlike its larger blue cousin, the humpback eats fish. The problem for a whale is that it's hard to sneak up on a fish that weighs 1000 times less than you do! Humpbacks have developed a complex hunting mechanism that allows them to feed more easily.

The whales work together. One group of the whales makes extremely loud noises to cluster the fish into a tight school. Another group swims below the fish and blows thousands of bubbles upward, forming a net below the prey. The fish move closer and closer together, exactly the wrong tactic. Next, the humpbacks surprise them from below, powering upward through the water, mouths open. They swallow dozens of fish at a time, whole. Humpbacks use the bubble net when feeding alone as well- for unclear reasons, the small fish refuse to swim through the bubbles. It may be that the humpbacks' singing is actually trapped inside the bubbles, creating a virtual wall of sound.

Answer: Howler monkey

Howler monkeys are the loudest land animals, primarily inhabiting the Amazon River Basin. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, a howler call can be heard from three miles away. The monkeys make the sonorous, grating calls to claim territory and mates. A large hyoid bone enables them to make the "howl" that Native Americans considered devilish. They comprise one of the only groups of monkeys that the natives of the Amazon did not domesticate to any extent.

Howler monkeys live in large groups but rarely travel with their families. Sons and daughters move from the family to a different grouping and live to adulthood with unrelated populations. Fights between the monkeys do exist, but are primarily limited to outrageously loud verbal duels.

Answer: California sea lion

If you walk on the California shoreline, you might have the "luck" to hear the strange grunt/bark/growl of the sea lion. The animals are very intelligent and commonly used in aquariums or circuses for entertainment (if they call it a seal, odds are it's a sea lion). What's the difference? Sea lions have ears, and generally longer necks than seals. Seal flippers are covered in fur, while sea lions' only have a small amount of fur on them. Also, sea lions are a lot louder than seals. During the mating season, they will bark to attract mates or scare rivals away from their territories.

They bark underwater, too, which sounds rather different from their land communication.

Answer: Gorillas

Stridulation is an interesting phenomenon through which animals can audibly communicate. By rubbing a ridged structure on the body against a smoother structure, organisms can produce a low-pitched noise, similar to rubbing something across sandpaper. Mainly cold-blooded (ectothermic) animals use stridulation as a means of communication, but it is by no means limited to insects. Probably the most famous stridulators are grasshoppers and crickets; other insects that do it include millipedes, beetles, and some ants. Tarantulas stridulate by rubbing together the stinging bristles on their long legs.

Some snakes, particularly the desert viper, use stridulation as a means to scare away predators.

Answer: Pistol shrimp

The pistol (or "snapping") shrimp belong to a marine family called Alpheidae, and they comprise about 600 species worldwide. The shrimp rarely grows to longer than two inches (5 cm) long, but most of the body length consists of one enormous pincer. The pincer's structure is fairly complex and allows the pistol shrimp to use its most potent weapon.

When the pincer "snaps," an enormous force creates a powerful stream of bubbles. The snap lasts one millisecond, but is one of the loudest sounds in the sea (whalesong from the sperm whale would be the other contender).

The shrimp uses its snap to snare prey. However, the bubbles are strong enough to break through some weak glass containers (though probably not an aquarium, sadly enough). Interestingly, the snap is strong enough that the energy given off creates a "cavitation" bubble that was measured at 4700 degrees Celsius! The resulting shock wave also creates a short flash of light, invisible to the naked eye.

Answer: Herring

At night in the ocean, communication for fish is difficult. Herring have devised an ingenious solution to make themselves heard across the waves: farting. Really! The flatulence produces bubbles and a very high-pitched noise that can be partially audible to humans, perfectly audible to other herring, but is out of the hearing range of most other fish. The herring produce the noise to bring the school close together, another defense tactic engineered to keep the population safe. Scientific studies have proven that the air released comes from a small pocket of gas the fish store in their swim bladders. When necessary, they can release it into the war, creating a fine stream of bubbles and a characteristic sound. The behavior is triggered by darkness, not concentration of predators, so it most likely is used for communication alone.

Unfortunately for the herring, some predators in the sea are adept enough to make out the high-pitched sounds. Some marine biologists suggest that whales have adapted to become great predators of the herring because they can pick up the audible signals of the fish flatulence. The source is almost always a large school of herring, defenseless against such a huge mouth.

Answer: Cicada

Cicadas, also known as "jar flies" and sometimes (wrongfully) called locusts, are the loudest insects on the planet. They do not stridulate; instead, their characteristic noise is produced by structures called tymbals located on the abdomen. When the tymbals flex, they produce a loud clicking noise, which is amplified by the cicadas' empty abdomens. Distinct patterns of clicks form actual cicada songs, which are unique among cicada species, and are most prevalent during summer months. Only males make the clicking noises.

Cicadas actually have tympana, similar to human ears, which are effective at picking up sound. Their song is so loud that the insects actually disable their tympana while clicking. If you hold a cicada up to your ear, it's theoretically possible that the noise, at 120 decibels, is loud enough to cause permanent hearing loss. Still, taking a walk during the summer will not make you go deaf.

Answer: Lyrebird

Both species of lyrebirds (the Superb Lyrebird and Albert's Lyrebird) have long fantails of various colors, but they have another attribute that is far more striking. They are probably the most sophisticated audio mimics in the animal kingdom. Individual birds have been shown to emulate the sounds of dozens of other birds, in addition to completely inorganic noises. Ever heard a bird make a convincing imitation of a chainsaw, or a car alarm? Don't worry, it can also do a photo shutter, a dog barking, and a gunshot.

In one famous case, a lyrebird was played flute music from a human and was able to replicate the tunes after the bird's release into the wild.