Why lions roar and cats miaow

03november2010
Source: bbc.co.uk
The sound that felines produce is more dependent on the environment that the animal lives in than on the size of the animal. And yet much remains unclear for scientists.
Felines originally live on all continents, except Antarctica and Australia. With the exception of lions, all wild felines live solitary lives. Roaring or miaowing is a way to communicate over large distances, either to avoid conflicts or to find a partner.
Two researchers of the Alexander Koenig Zoological Research Museum in Bonn, Germany, analysed the frequency of long distance calls made by 27 different cat species. This included large roaring cats like lions, tigers and jaguars. Roaring is made possible by a special structure of the throat.
The researchers searched for a relationship between the call and the size of the feline and its natural habitat. The clearest relation was found with its natural habitat. Felines that live in an open type of habitat, such as lions and sand cats, have deeper calls. Felines living in dense habitats, such as wildcats, clouded leopards and marbled cats, produce a higher sound.
This was surprising, because high pitch sounds are disrupted by dense vegetation and low pitch sounds are disrupted by air turbulence in open spaces.
It was also expected that larger felines produce lower sounds than their smaller cousins. But, taking into consideration the genetic heritages of the species, the researchers found no relationship between body weight and the frequency of the call.
For now the roar and the miaow remain a great mystery. Subsequent studies may shed more light on the issue. This research was published in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.