The extra length in the larynx of the big cats results in the lower frequencies and the tiger roar. As the air passes through the larynx, the cartilage walls of the larynx vibrate producing sound. Sound is produced in the larynx as mentioned when air expelled from the lungs passes through it. The ability of the four big cats to roar comes from a larynx that is elongated and a specially adapted hyoid apparatus. The strength of expiration from the lungs also contributes to loudness”. “Sound is generated in the larynx, and that is where pitch and volume are manipulated. The sounds produced are like those of a domestic cat, unsurprisingly. The puma is another name for the cougar or mountain lion and they cannot produce the tiger roar. The larynx of the tiger is different to that of the domestic cat, while the larynx of the puma, for example, is similar to the domestic cat (src: ). The roar of a tiger can be heard more than one mile away. It may be possible to distinguish tigers by the quality of their infrasound (src: ). A hertz is “the basic unit of frequency in the ST system, equal to one cycle per second” (src: ) and. Tiger infrasound is at about 18 hertz but when they roar, they produce sound at frequencies lower than this. Infrasound can travel further and is part of tiger communication. It is called infrasound by scientists who study bioacoustics. Tigers and a number of animals can produce sounds at frequencies below that.
Humans can hear frequencies from 20 hertz to 20,000 hertz. What is interesting is that people cannot hear a significant part of the range of frequencies produced by tigers. It can paralyze some animals due to its loudness low frequencies. The frequency, pitch and loudness of the sound is very intimidating.
#Tiger growl license#
Published under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs creative commons License - this site is for charitable purposes in funding cat rescue.
Picture (thumbnail): by GavinBell (new window).