Loudest Animals In The World

Anyone who shares a home with a furry or feathery family member knows that things can get pretty loud. Whether it's a dog barking at something in the yard or a cat demanding attention at 4 a.m., it's a simple fact that most animals come with a certain amount of noise. But how do Fido and Fluffy stack up against some of the loudest members of the animal kingdom? Surprisingly? Some of them can throw down with some serious competition.

But let's talk decibels (dB), because, without context, they don't really mean much. The Hearing Health Foundation says that 70 dB is about the level of noise that someone might expect from a standard office, and it's also the threshold between safe and potentially dangerous levels of sound. Prolonged exposure to decibel levels above 70 risks permanent hearing damage and loss, but let's put that in perspective. City traffic (as heard from inside a car or building) clocks in at about 85 dB, while a motorcycle tends to be around 100 dB. A gunshot tops the charts at 140 dB, and it's easy to see how that can eventually do some serious damage to a person's hearing. Where do animals come in on the chart? Surprisingly, they're not just off the chart, but some are way, way off the chart.

First things first: The Whale and Dolphin Conservatory says that baleen whales are a group of whale species that include the sperm, blue, humpback, and gray whales — and according to BBC Earth, it's whales from this group that are among the loudest creatures in the world... but there's a little more to it. When it comes to sheer volume, there are some clear winners. That starts with the sperm whale: A 1972 study (cited in Scientific Reports) measured the clicking sounds of sperm whales as reaching up to 235 dB. For some perspective, NASA recorded the Saturn V rocket as reaching 204 dB (via Five Thirty Eight). The clicking sounds were thought to be used as a part of their hunting technique, and now, it's believed that it allows them to create a shockingly precise picture of the oceans around them using echolocation.

The blue whale isn't too shabby, either: They've been recorded making sounds up to 180 dB, which is about the same sort of noise a jet engine makes. Interestingly, studies have shown whales aren't just making random sounds, either, and it's the humpback whale who holds some records here. These whales — which sing at between 126 dB and 158 dB, according to the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology — typically sing in repeating patterns that average around 10 minutes in length. They've also been known to continuously sing for up to 23 hours at a time.

Worms? Loud? Surely not! It's true, though, and let's talk about some context. According to iac acoustics, sounds that register at 150 dB are loud enough to rupture the human eardrum, and these marine worms are more than capable of doing exactly that.

In 2019, Current Biology published research on a tiny marine worm called Leocratides kimuraorum, which is precisely what a worm should be. It's a completely soft-bodied creature that looks a little hairy and a little transparent. According to Science, they were only discovered in 2017. While they're predictably silent most of the time, it's when they start to fight that things get literally deafening. It's not clear how they're capable of making any noise — completely soft-bodied creatures shouldn't, in theory, be able to — but researchers have recorded what's thought to be both male and female worms making popping sounds that register at a whopping 157 dB. 

It's suspected that it has something to do with the way the muscles in their "throats" are configured, but the precise mechanisms remain unknown. Interestingly, the only time they make the sound is when they're fighting: Researchers otherwise disturbed and frightened the worms, but they remained silent. The current theory is that it serves a dual purpose that allows the worm to defend itself and to alert other worms that something terrible is going down.

The tiny bulldog bat is one of the loudest bat species ever recorded, and they're so loud that according to researchers from the University of Southern Denmark in Odense and the University of Ulm, Germany (via New Scientist), they — along with other species — have adapted to be able to close their ear muscles at the same time they scream. That only blocks some of the sound of their own voices, though, which means a swarm of bats must sound catastrophic to them.

So... why isn't the night sky filled with the sound of a bat-centric rock concert? Because they're screeching, squealing, and squawking at a frequency that's well out of the range of human ears — and that's a good thing, because researchers recorded the lesser bulldog bat as hitting 137 dB. And that, they think, is a little on the low side because of the difficulties in recording the night-flying creatures.

That's particularly impressive considering the bats only weigh about 50 grams or less than 2 ounces. According to NBC News, there might be a surprising application for these calls: Researchers are using recordings to "teach" artificial intelligence in hopes of creating robots with ultra-effective sonar capabilities.

The Australian Museum says that the Greengrocer cicada is found across the southeastern part of Australia, and they describe their call — which they usually make at dusk and dawn — as "extremely loud and penetrating." That's being incredibly polite.

The greengrocer cicada uses its deafening calls for two reasons, says Australian Geographic. At the same time that it's a mating call used during the relatively short, six-week adult stage of the cicada's life, it also helps keep predators away for the simple fact that it's so stinkin' loud. It's so loud, in fact, that when a group of large cicadas gathers, birds will usually opt to go elsewhere instead of partaking in what would be an absolute feast. And although there are hundreds of different types of cicadas — some of which make no noise at all — the greengrocer has been recorded hitting levels of 120 dB. That, says the Hearing Health Foundation, is on par with the noise levels at a standard rock concert.

Saying that "Charlie the Golden Retriever" is one of the loudest animals on the planet isn't a joke: Charlie is a very real Golden Retriever who hails from Australia and holds a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for the loudest dog bark. He set the record in 2012 when his bark was recorded as hitting a whopping 113.1 dB — which puts his bark only slightly softer than a lion's roar. To put that in perspective, there's another bark-related record recognized by Guinness, and that's the loudest group of dogs. In 2009, a group of 76 dogs barking together hit 124 dB — not too far off from Charlie's record-setting bark.

But, where does that put Charlie with respect to other dogs? According to PetKeen, most dogs can easily hit 80 dB, with some — particularly hunting and working breeds — capable of easily hitting 100 dB. It makes sense, after all: Herding dogs need to be able to be heard and understood over a flock of sheep or a herd of cattle, and hunting dogs need to be able to communicate with their handlers over great distances. Before Charlie smashed the record, the award-winner for the loudest dog bark was a UK-based German Shepherd named Daz, with a respectable 108 dB (via the BBC).

At first, 99.2 dB might not sound like it's too loud, especially when compared to some other animals. Comparatively, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that it's about the same as a typical sporting event, or the sort of noise someone experiences when they're standing on a subway platform and the train's coming. But here's the thing: The creatures making that noise are less than an inch long, and researchers from the University of Strathclyde say (via The Telegraph) that it makes them the loudest animals in the world... when factoring in their relative body size.

The tiny creatures are called water boatmen, and researchers explain that if a person happened to be walking along a body of water that they lived in, they would be perfectly audible to the human ear — even though 99% of the volume of their call is lost when it crosses the water-to-air boundary.

And what's being transmitted isn't a vocal call at all, it's actually a sound that only males can make when they're advertising for a mate. According to Dr. James Windmill, the exact way they do it is unknown, but what is known is that it involves rubbing the male member against the abdomen — and for some context, they're such tiny creatures that they're talking about an area no wider than a single human hair. Windmill suggests that if they can crack the mystery of just how it's done, it could have endless applications in engineering and acoustics.