- What?! Sorry, I can’t hear you from all these animals!
It’s a real challenge to find a completely silent animal. Unless we’re talking about some kind of microscopic organisms, most creatures produce at least some noise.
Of course, some are specialized to make sounds as loud as possible. We recently brought you the story of a fingernail-sized fish that’s louder than a gunshot.
That story got us asking what the loudest animals on the planet are. So, of course, we had to look into it.
Here are the Top 12 of the noisiest creatures on Earth.
(By the way, as a benchmark, sounds louder than 120 decibels will damage human hearing.)
12. Australian Lyrebird
Loudest noise: Around 90 decibels
The Australian lyrebird is a strange bird. Not only is it pretty loud, it’s an excellent mimic.
Armed with the most complex vocal organ of all songbirds, the lyrebird can imitate pretty much any sound it hears. So, don’t be surprised if you hear loud camera shutters, crying babies, chainsaws, or flute melodies from three decades ago echoing through Australia’s woods.
11. Lesser Water Boatman
Loudest noise: 99 decibels
Water boatmen are many people’s nightmare bugs — they’re big, they live in water, they have a painful bite, and they fly. They’re also exceedingly loud, with their mating call resounding at 99.2 decibels.
It’s appropriate that the noise is a mating call because the bug makes it with its penis. The boatman rubs its dong against its abdomen in one of the loudest and horniest sounds in the animal kingdom.
10. Dog
Loudest noise: 113 decibels
That’s right, your pooch made it to this list! The humble domestic dog can bark so loudly that it can hurt your ears — as we’re sure every dog owner knows.
Of course, the loudness of a dog’s bark depends on the breed. Fittingly, wolves also howl roughly as loudly as domestic dogs bark.
9. Lion
Loudest noise: 114 decibels
The roar of the mighty lion echoes through the savanna at roughly the same volume as a dog’s bark. That said, it’s a much lower sound than what most dogs make, so it might actually sound quieter to the human ear.
Although their roar can be loud, lions prefer to keep things quiet most of the time. Case in point, they like hunting during storms to cover the sound of their approach.
8. Green Grocer Cicada
Loudest noise: 120 decibels
As anyone who lives in an area with cicadas will tell you, they can get obnoxiously loud. But the loudest of all is the green grocer cicada from Australia.
These cicadas are quite possibly the loudest insects in existence. Their 120-decibel chirping break that magic barrier where being right next to them can actually cause permanent hearing damage.
7. Human
Loudest noise: 129 decibels
Yes, you too are an animal and a decently loud one at that. The loudest scream made by a human being came from British classroom assistant Jill Drake in 2000 when Guinness World Records measured it at 129 decibels.
That said, Drake’s scream is exceptional enough to be a world record. Most human beings are quieter than her but hey — at least we beat the bugs when we go by Drake’s scream.
6. Kakapo
Loudest noise: 132 decibels
The kakapo, also known as the owl parrot, is a flightless parrot from New Zealand. It’s also the loudest bird, with the males’ mating screeches reaching 132 decibels in volume.
That obnoxious noise doesn’t really help them get laid, though. Their scream is so loud that it echoes all over the place, leaving the females with no clue about where the male actually is.
5. Danionella cerebrum
Loudest noise: 140 decibels
Meet the fish we mentioned in the intro. Danionella cerebrum might be as long as your fingernail but it makes 140 decibels of noise, making it louder than a .22-caliber gunshot.
The fish creates the sound by twisting its rib out to stretch a strip of cartilage, which then slams down on its swim bladder. When released, the cartilage accelerates 2,000 times faster than something pulled by gravity, so the fish needs special musculature to blow itself to pieces.
4. Greater Bulldog Bat
Loudest noise: 140 decibels
The greater bulldog bat is a fishing bat from South America. The sonar pulse from its echolocation is as loud as the little fish from the previous entry, reaching 140 decibels.
These bats use echolocation to spot ripples fish make on the surface of water. After detecting a meal, the bat swoops down and catches the fish in a pouch of skin between its legs.
3. Blue Whale
Loudest noise: 188 decibels
The blue whale is the largest animal on Earth, so it only makes sense that it’s really loud. A blue whale’s eerie underwater whistle can reach up to 188 decibels.
To put that into perspective, that’s louder than a grenade explosion, a jet engine, or a NASA space rocket taking off right next to you. The sound can travel more than 500 miles underwater before finally fading to silence.
2. Tiger Pistol Shrimp
Loudest noise: 210 decibels
The tiger pistol shrimp is barely two inches long, but it can create the second-loudest animal noise on the planet. By snapping their claw, they can shoot a jet of water at such speed that it forms a superheated air bubble.
The collapse of the bubble produces not only 210 decibels of noise but also a shock wave that will kill most small fish and crustaceans within a two-yard radius. The pistol shrimp’s attack sounds much like a gunshot — it’s just much, much louder.
1. Sperm Whale
Loudest noise: 233 decibels
Here we are — the noisiest creature on the planet. A sperm whale emits incredibly loud sounds that can reach 233 decibels.
Unlike blue whales, though, sperm whales don’t whistle but instead use their noises to produce repeating clicking noises. The clicks are so loud that if a sperm whale made them while swimming next to you, you could drop dead from the sheer volume.