The happy clicking sounds elephants make when they are excited or usually when they move to a new zoo that kind of sounds like a dolphin click. I couldn't find a video immediately I will find one later
Favorite animal sound
I love the laughing sound of kookaburras and the clicking sounds of budgies
Elephas Maximus
Well-Known Member
High-pitched buzzing of bumblebee, when it's doing buzz pollination or just being trapped 
Old thread, but my favourite sound of all time has to be that stock sound-effect they use in movies for every kind of big cat:
On a more personal note, I love the sound of a common buzzard screeching: it's just so emblematic of the British countryside for me:
I also really love the stock red-tailed hawk sound:
and elephant calls:
Last edited:
One of the best I ever heard was numerous groups of different species of gibbons all calling at once within close proximity to each other at Bali Zoo. I recorded it on a previous phone so don’t have the sound to hand, but it was so loud and so amazing!
I also love the sound of the Californian sea lions at Queens Zoo! They are so loud that you can hear them from outside the zoo. The enormous old male Butch especially, he makes the deepest noises ever!
I also love the sound of the Californian sea lions at Queens Zoo! They are so loud that you can hear them from outside the zoo. The enormous old male Butch especially, he makes the deepest noises ever!
Last edited:
I also love the purring sound of a sun bear cub sucking their paw, but I hate the reason that they do it (usually it’s the orphaned cubs who have been taken away from their mothers far too early, quite like an insecure child sucking their thumb for comfort).
I loved the way that Chica the elderly male sun bear at Cologne Zoo clucked to his keepers for food, he is very old and completely blind so I think communicating with his keepers in this way (they cluck back in response) gives him some reassurance. I’ve never heard a sun bear do it so profoundly. Usually it’s mothers clucking to their cubs.
I actually love the chewbacca noises sun bears make when they fight, Somnang and Rotana at Edinburgh are great for this as they grab each other’s saggy foreheads and bums in their mouths!
I loved the way that Chica the elderly male sun bear at Cologne Zoo clucked to his keepers for food, he is very old and completely blind so I think communicating with his keepers in this way (they cluck back in response) gives him some reassurance. I’ve never heard a sun bear do it so profoundly. Usually it’s mothers clucking to their cubs.
I actually love the chewbacca noises sun bears make when they fight, Somnang and Rotana at Edinburgh are great for this as they grab each other’s saggy foreheads and bums in their mouths!
Bush Stone Curlew
Bell Miner
Siamang
Bell Miner
Siamang
The Superb Lyrebird with it's incredible ability to replicate sounds also deserves a mention on this list
I love the song of the White Bellbird. Best noise ever! (Turn the sound all the way up for maximum effect!)
XC303661 White Bellbird (Procnias albus) :: xeno-canto
XC303661 White Bellbird (Procnias albus) :: xeno-canto
Kakapo
Well-Known Member
Interesting thread and original subject! Mine is the relaxing and wonderful sound of cranes flying during migrations, a sound that I hear every year while they pass over my city.
I also like a lot when storks clasp their bills each time partner comes to nest or when courtshiping.
Another sound that I like, but looks more funny than relaxing to me, is when I catch by hand a hoverfly of the species Volucella zonaria, and they make vibrate the thoracic muscles, when I do this I approach the insect to my ear. Unfortunately these beauties are less common now than during my childhood :-(
In the opposite extreme, I think that the most scary, unpretty animal sound that I know, is the Tasmanian devils when they find a rival. Macaws, herons and humans also are able to do some unpleasant sounds.
I also like a lot when storks clasp their bills each time partner comes to nest or when courtshiping.
Another sound that I like, but looks more funny than relaxing to me, is when I catch by hand a hoverfly of the species Volucella zonaria, and they make vibrate the thoracic muscles, when I do this I approach the insect to my ear. Unfortunately these beauties are less common now than during my childhood :-(
In the opposite extreme, I think that the most scary, unpretty animal sound that I know, is the Tasmanian devils when they find a rival. Macaws, herons and humans also are able to do some unpleasant sounds.
The_UltimateBea
Well-Known Member
The slow huffing of a tiger as he stares in your eye is just beautiful.
There is only one animal sound I DON'T like, and that's chickens cackling, either in alarm or after they've laid an egg. Goes on far too long, raises my anxiety levels. Cocks crowing is no problem.
Most other animal sounds have pleasant associations. Years ago I used to visit London Zoo regularly, and three iconic sounds would come to my ears as I approached across Regent's Park:
Bull Sealion barking
Fish Eagles calling
Rival Sonneratt's Junglefowl crowing backwards and forwards at each other.
All those species are gone from the zoo, to the detriment of the visitor experience.
Having said that, Lions and Gibbons are still there, so there are still some good sounds.
I remember you saying this before and agreeing with the three 'trademark' ZSL sounds. As I approached the Zoo on a drizzly morning a few weeks ago there were none of these anymore of course to raise the expectations. Sadly no Lions or Gibbons calling either.
And yes, Chicken alarm call goes on far too long, like a stuck record...
DdoddI remember you saying this before and agreeing with the three 'trademark' ZSL sounds. As I approached the Zoo on a drizzly morning a few weeks ago there were none of these anymore of course to raise the expectations. Sadly no Lions or Gibbons calling either.
And yes, Chicken alarm call goes on far too long, like a stuck record...
Odd, really, because Guineafowl don't bother me.I remember you saying this before and agreeing with the three 'trademark' ZSL sounds. As I approached the Zoo on a drizzly morning a few weeks ago there were none of these anymore of course to raise the expectations. Sadly no Lions or Gibbons calling either.
And yes, Chicken alarm call goes on far too long, like a stuck record...
Thought I'd probably said all that before, I tend to repeat myself. Thought I'd probably said all that before, I tend to repeat myself......
A lot of what some of us would regard as the iconic sights and sounds of London Zoo are gone:
Goats on the skyline
Geese, Cranes, and good collections of Owls & Pheasants on the North Bank
The whole concept of Pheasantries at all.....
And, it's several years since I was there, but I suspect most of the hoofstock have gone. No Gaur or Yaks, I imagine? Certainly no Blackbuck herd.
However, one positive is that the finally worked out that the Elephant House was not fit for purpose.......