History Main / NoisyNature

Cats tend to be quiet unless they want something, and the same goes for horses and dogs unless they are excited by something. Rats and mice rarely make human-audible noises. Owls, hawks, and other birds intentionally make noise under exactly three circumstances: to claim territory, to threaten potential predators, and to communicate with other members of their family or social group. The same generally goes for other animals that can make sounds. An animal who has been hurt in all likelihood will not react vocally ''at all'', except for maybe one brief yelp at the moment of injury -- it's [[EverythingTryingToKillYou not smart]] to announce to every predator in the area that you're an easy meal. And all the fictional predators who [[RoarBeforeBeating let out a blood-curdling roar/scream/whatever]] as they stalk their prey are idiots, because the whole point of a roar is to announce your presence, intimidate whatever is in front of you, and hope it'll run away. Do that while hunting and you're bound to lose your lunch (group hunting animals are a rare exception as they may try to scare prey toward another member of their group). In short, even animals that are highly vocal are still quiet most of the time, and generally only make sounds for specific reasons.

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3k9Uov6Xlc extended version]] of Will Vinton's short ''Dinosaurs!'' is exceedingly surreal for an educational film. The trippiness almost ''excuses'' the fact that it's got Loons in a forest '''and''' Ravens at night. There's also a bit of an Everything Roars thing going on as the clip includes distorted versions of both calls made to sound like screams. (Bonus: DragonsAreDinosaurs '''and''' WhatMeasureIsANonCute! You may not want to watch it if those tropes bother you a lot.)

* Much subtler - so much so that it has to be pointed out in the commentary - is in ''Franchise/JurassicPark'', in the scene where Nedry "fights" the dilophosaur. The commentary explicitly notes, no, there are no elephants on the island, it's just there to pull the viewer into the jungle setting. thirty seconds to shout at the top of its lungs.
* [[GiantSpider Kumonga]]. [[Film/SonOfGodzilla Roaring spiders anyone?]] Kumonga sounded more like he was daintily sneezing. Kamacuras the giant praying mantis definitely screeched, and Megalon made a metallic grinding/shrieking roar. Also Mothra's ethereal chirps.

* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' features some examples.
** The classic, ''Film/Werewolf1996'', which takes place in Flagstaff, Arizona. It has every variation of this trope: Wolf-people who never shut up, growling and howling at everything. Red-tailed Hawks crying at ''night''. A crappy Werewolf puppet who ''makes the calls of a hawk and a bat'' ([=WTF=] seems sadly inefficient here). And a soundtrack that uses every one of these animal calls as its {{Scare Chord}}s.
** ''Film/CaveDwellers'', has roaring ''snakes'' (technically the real snakes merely growl. The giant rubber puppet snake roars).
* ''Film/{{Prancer}}'' has it all too: an injured Reindeer who won't stay quiet and [[CuteButCacophonic bellows at maximum volume all the time]], and ''Spring'' Peepers chirping in the middle of a Christmas Eve [[DreamingOfAWhiteChristmas blizzard]]. A-ha.
* ''Film/{{Elf}}'': Buddy encounters a raccoon that chitters five times. When he tries to hug it, it attacks him and lets out a screech that sounds like a monkey. (Unlike the other animals in the film, this animal is not from ChristmasTown, so there's no reason it shouldn't behave like an ordinary raccoon.)
* Oddly enough, ''Literature/TarzanOfTheApes'' uses the lion roaring as it attacks, but seems to be aware that this can easily be a tactical mistake. The book claims that most animals are frozen in fear by the sound of the lion's roar, and only Tarzan himself, being human, is smart enough that the roar alerts him and encourages him to fight back. Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs wasn't one to let the actual facts about lions get in the way of the story--the bigger question here is, [[MisplacedWildlife what was a plains-dwelling animal like a lion doing in the middle of the jungle?]]
* Possibly justified with ''Franchise/RoboCop'''s ED-209: the (presumably prerecorded) lion's roar probably works as a pretty decent criminal deterrent, and the pig's squealing is very useful when it's on trouble (ie, [[WeaksauceWeakness failing to take down stairs]])

* There's an odd scene in ''Film/EvilDead2'' in which Ash hears a series of weird noises that segue between animal-like snorting, ambiguous screeching, and vaguely-mechanical sounds. The overall impression is that a carnivorous locomotive is circling the place.
* The titular ''Film/{{Anaconda}}'' on occasion hisses. But if injured or in pursuit of our heroes, it will squeal and wail.

* In ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', the Thanator (scary black panther thing) that chases Jake into the jungle keeps roaring at him. In frustration? Worse than that, though: it keeps ''pausing'' to roar at him. A predator that did that would starve.
%% * ''Film/TheWolfman2010''
* The titular ape of the ''Film/KingKong'' movies is incredibly noisy, frequently letting out monstrous roars. At least in the [[Film/KingKong1933 original film]], they used the roars of big cats such as lions and tigers rather than actual ape sounds. To be fair, he is a fictional species of giant ape rather than an actual gorilla.
* ''Film/{{Python}}'': The snake roars a lot, using recycled sound FX from ''Film/{{Anaconda}}''.
* ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'': Most of the scenes of the flora and fauna of Thra are rife with animal/insect sound and there's a plant with seed pods that take off like little copters with an audible 'pop.'
* ''Film/{{Them}}'': The film's giant lung-free ants constantly shriek and chitter. Admittedly, it does make them [[RuleOfCool more creepy]], and it can be handwaved that they've gone through other mutations besides their size increase.

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