The World's Loudest Creatures - Fact and Humor

Have you ever been annoyed by a cicada, barking dog or croaking toad? As annoying as they may be, there are even louder and more annoying creatures in the animal kingdom.

This is one of those articles that I'm doing mostly for fun, and it was all sparked by a very tiny critter. Over the last week we've been hearing a serious racket from outside, something that sounded like a really angry duck. The lot next door is flooded and has become a pond with it's own ecosystem including geese and herons, so a duck wouldn't have shocked us. Last night though it sounded as if the offending animal was right on our front porch. It didn't seem likely a duck would have climbed the ramp and been quacking on the front porch, so we went outside to look. As it turned out, the noise that was drowning out our television was coming from a tiny green frog that was maybe an inch or so long.

That got me to thinking about how loud an animal can be, and how size doesn't really matter when it comes to making noise. Whether great or small, there are creatures out there that can make an insane racket. The following is a list of some of the loudest animals on the planet, in no particular order.

Sperm Whale: Has a call of 180 decibels and can kill other sea-dwelling creatures with the volume of the sound.

Elephant: So loud they can drown out a jackhammer. Capable of a wide range of calls, including many that humans cannot hear.

Bat: Emits an extreme number of loud bursts as echolocation to find prey. Most of the sounds bats make are too high for humans to hear.

Pistol Shrimp: Creates sounds of 200 decibels with a specially designed claw. The sound can actually break glass. They're called pistol shrimp because they basically "shoot" their prey with the sound.

Herring: Herring call to one another using bubbles blown from their backside. The sound can rival that of a jet engine at takeoff.

Cicada: The cicada is the loudest insect in the world, and has built-in earmuffs to keep it from going deaf from its own noise. If you've ever experienced a hot day in the south, you know how annoyingly loud these things can get.

Howler Monkey: This is the loudest monkey on Earth. It's calls can be heard from 10 miles away!

And I just have to add this one,

Cockatiel: Capable of screams that can be heard from across the house. Loud enough to cause severe headaches, ear pain and loss of sanity.

Sources:

TV.com episode recap of "The Most Extreme", Season 4 Episode 5