• Question: Why do big cats roar and small cats meow?

    Asked by 8074pd to Hywel, Joseph, Patience, Poonam, Rachael on 17 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Joseph Cook

      Joseph Cook answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      I don’t really know, but I would guess it’s got something to do with their size. I imagine the vocal chords (or cat equivalent) are huge in a big lion and tiny in a domestic cat, so the lion can make low noises in a similar way that a grown up has a deeper voice than a child.

    • Photo: Poonam Kaushik

      Poonam Kaushik answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Big cats have their own repertoire of sounds e.g. the rumbled greeting of lionesses and the distinctive “chuff” of tigers. Two important differences are that big cats such as lions, tigers, jaguars and leopards cannot purr because their throats are built for roaring. Conversely, the small cats, puma and cheetah, screech or yowl rather than roar (this is discussed in Cat Chat – Can Cats Talk”). Although there are a few reports of purring-type sounds (a breathy groaning sound rather than an in-and-out purr) from lions and tigers, it seems that a cat can either purr or roar, but not both. Purring is also found in the cheetah, puma and most small cats such as the serval and ocelot. Cubs may “mew”, but adult big cats do not “meow”. Individual big cats are sometimes tamed e.g. if hand-reared, but big cat species have never been domesticated in the same way as the housecat

    • Photo: Dr Hywel Jones

      Dr Hywel Jones answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      If small cats were a big cats I bet they’d raw too! But I’m sure its to do with the distance over which they need to communicate.

Comments