Is This What Dinosaurs Sounded Like? The Noise Will Shock You

And it’s far less terrifying than in the movies

Transcript

00:00What did dinosaurs sound like?

00:05If you're a 90s kid, something like this no doubt comes to mind.

00:09But it turns out the gigantic creatures that lumbered around the planet hundreds of millions of years ago

00:16likely didn't sound very ferocious at all.

00:18Researchers discovered a particularly well-preserved ankylosaur in the Gobi Desert Basin way back in 2005.

00:24And that creature had fossilized bones in its throat.

00:27Bones that they believed were used for making sounds.

00:30Flash forward to 2023 and paleontologists from the Hokkaido University Museum in Japan

00:35and the American Museum of Natural History now believe those bones were a voice box.

00:39When examined by animal vocal experts, they found that these structures are quite similar to both modern-day reptiles and modern-day birds.

00:46Meaning rather than terrifying roars, at least these dinosaurs were more likely to chirp like birds or make sounds like present-day crocodiles.

00:53Of course, the researchers say they can't be 100% sure of what anything that's been dead for millions of years sounded like.

00:59But they add the diverse sounds these complex structures could have made would likely have been, quote,

01:03related to courtship, parental call, predator defense, and territorial calls.