I learned what cheetahs sound like.
Apparently, cheetahs are a hairy species of bird.
More evidence:
(They make other sounds as well, this is just the most surprising.)
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Squirrels sometimes sound like ducks.
Tapirs too. Sound surprisingly like birds that is :
Hear here plus WARNING : LOUD!!! at times here & with a different species of Tapir here.
Okay just one more baby (calf) one here – because its powerfully cute – tho’ “words” may be stretching things a bit!
Funny, just recently there was a related article on Neurologica Blog: https://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/for-movies-animals-dont-sound-real-enough/
How dare nature to not sound as we imagine it?!
Cheetahs also purr. I once got to spend a day with cheetahs. Was a bit nervous when we approached the enclosure they sleep in, but as soon as they started purring I was all „Aw, they‘re just big, cuddly cats!“ Really sounds like a house cat, only louder.
We’re all birds.
Rob Grigjanis @ #1 — Indeed, at least a certain kind of duck. Squirrels can also sound like Blue Jays.
strangerinastrangeland @ #4 — Lots of natural sounds don’t work for movies. Those loud foot steps you hear as a character walks down a hall? Over-dubs of some sound effects guy hitting something on a board.
A lot of animals sound different in reality. Eagles do not make the majestic cries you hear on film- they have added a more “appropriate cry from some other bird of prey.
This is practically a Gary Larson cartoon.
Big cat: Sees hunters approaching. Makes chirping sounds.
Hunter: tells companion to go into those bushes and flush out the bird.
They chirp. They purr. They meow. Seriously. Cheetahs don’t roar but meow. And I really want to pet one, even if it was about to chew my face off.
There is a section in the book Life With an Indian Prince where the author, one of the Craighead brothers, talks about coursing with cheetahs. He said they trained them the same way they trained falcons, even slipping them “out of the hood” like a pursuit falcon. Supposedly they are quite easy to tame.
I suspect it has just eaten a tweety bird.
Speaking of animal sounds, I recently learned what sounds a roebuck makes when it gores itself on a iron gate. That was not nearly as pleasant to hear…
And they say cheetahs never prosper.
Sadly they don’t. We’ll kill them off soon enough.
Never mind how they sound, those kittens look like Honey Badgers.
Mimicry that can come in handy on the savanna.
If your predator sees them from a distance, they can be mistaken for one of the world’s most pugnacious animals, and left alone.
I’ve been (reluctantly) watching some videos lately and have heard the whining and screeching that rtwingnuts and xtian terrorists make. It’s horrible, I have to keep the volume turned down.
LOL, I knew this little tidbit from years of watching wildlife documentaries with my grandson.
He’s 24 now, but I recently heard from his mother that he’s gotten his two little sisters hooked on them while he’s been home from college for the summer.
birgerjohansson @7: That’s only bald eagles. They make a weird chirping noise so the loud screech of a red-tailed hawk was dubbed over it for many movies and TV shows. Other eagles have significantly more intimidating vocalizations.
jacobletoile @10: Cheetahs are very easy to tame. Sadly, this contributed heavily to their downfall, as for centuries it was very popular to capture cheetahs from the wild and tame them to serve as hunting animals for kings and nobles in Africa and western Asia (it wasn’t that long ago that cheetahs roamed almost continuously from South Africa to India). But as they are infamously difficult to breed in captivity (captive breeding efforts only really started to be successful in the 1970s), this meant that more and more cheetahs were taken from the wild causing their population to decline significantly.
We were at the San Diego Wild Animal Park a few years ago. They had a young cheetah that was being reared at the nursery. It was in a glass enclosure near a gray parrot. Our guide was explaining about the cheetah chirp when he realized the cheetah was silent- it was the parrot! He’d learned to imitate the cheetahs.
Pumas/coguars also make a purring noise.
(Spell check thinks the noise is “pudding”)
A question for the masters of natural philosophy: – Which predators can be housebroken? And which can be taught to use a litter box?
I know canids are hard, even ‘tame’ foxes pee all over to mark territory (I recommend “SaveaFox” at Youtube if you want to see Fox behaviour close up).
There is a Russian couple that has adopted a puma cub in bad health from a circus, and nursed it back to health (after which it was of course too imprinted on humans to be set free).
-They keep it in the house and the walled garden as a normal cat, and it displays typical cat behaviors including purring, and demanding the constant attention of its favv human.
(They publish videos om Youtube)
They also adopted a young Cheetah named Gerda from a similar situation, but she has a more typical animal enclosure, being not quite as imprinted. She also has access to the walled garden, under supervision.
Slowly getting the two big cats to accept each other is a work in progress.
Big cats apparently have a supercharged metabolism, as long as they are well fed things like “winter” does not matter as much as for humans.
Then there is this little kitty:
That would be one helluva foot warmer.
@21: Is that Messi?
Baby crocodiles also sound like toy laser guns. Which is fun until you realise that they’re calling for mama….
And the adult crocs hiss.
Awww. The picture @22 looks like the giant version of my Lynx Point Siamese.