What Is the Loudest Animal Sound? A Roaring Debate

I’ll never forget the first time I heard a blue whale’s call. I wasn’t even in the ocean—I was in a small museum exhibit with a sound system designed to simulate what it would feel like underwater. The deep, resonant sound made my chest vibrate, like standing next to a massive subwoofer at a concert. "That’s 188 decibels," the guide said, grinning. "The loudest sound any animal on Earth can produce."

My friend Mike, ever the skeptic, wasn’t convinced. "Yeah, but can you even hear that in real life?" he asked. "I bet something like a howler monkey or a lion is louder to us." That kicked off an intense debate—what really counts as the loudest animal sound?

The Blue Whale: The King of Volume

If we’re going purely by raw decibels, the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) wins. These giants of the ocean can produce sounds up to 188 decibels, which is louder than a jet engine at takeoff (140 dB). The crazy part? We can’t even hear most of it. Blue whales communicate using low-frequency sounds (10–40 Hz), often below the range of human hearing. These sounds travel for hundreds of miles underwater, allowing whales to "talk" across entire oceans.

• Fact check: At 188 dB, the blue whale’s call is technically the loudest biological sound on Earth.
• Counterpoint: It’s not the loudest sound we perceive as "loud" since it’s mostly infrasonic.

Mike wasn’t satisfied. "Okay, but if I was standing next to it, would it hurt my ears?" The answer? Probably not, since sound behaves differently underwater. But it did raise an interesting question—what about animals that sound deafening to us on land?

The Pistol Shrimp: A Tiny, Underwater Explosion

Then there’s the pistol shrimp (Alpheus heterochaelis), a tiny crustacean that can create an ear-shattering 218-decibel shockwave by snapping its claw. That’s technically louder than the blue whale! But there’s a catch: the sound lasts for just a split second and happens underwater, where it creates a small bubble that collapses violently, momentarily reaching temperatures as hot as the sun.

• Fact check: 218 dB makes it the most intense biological sound in bursts.
• Counterpoint: It’s more of a shockwave than a sustained sound, so it’s not "loud" in the way we think of noise.

At this point, Mike was pulling out his phone, looking up facts to counter my arguments. "Fine, fine," he said. "But let’s talk about stuff that actually screams."

The Howler Monkey: The Loudest Land Animal

If you’ve ever been near a howler monkey (Alouatta spp.) in the wild, you know why they have that name. These jungle primates can produce calls up to 140 decibels, roughly equivalent to a jet engine at 100 feet. The first time I heard one, I genuinely thought some demon from the underworld was waking up in the trees. Their howls can travel three miles through the dense forest, making them the loudest land animal relative to their size.

• Fact check: Loudest mammal on land, at 140 dB.
• Counterpoint: A chainsaw is 120 dB, so yeah, you’d want earplugs.

The Sperm Whale: Nature’s Sonic Weapon

Then there’s the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus). These massive predators use clicks to echolocate their prey, and these clicks reach 230 dB—technically the loudest sound in the animal kingdom. In fact, some divers claim they’ve felt their bodies vibrate when close to a hunting sperm whale.

• Fact check: 230 dB makes sperm whales the loudest on a per-click basis.
• Counterpoint: It’s not a continuous noise, and most of it isn’t in human hearing range.

So, Who Wins?

By sheer numbers:

• Loudest sustained sound: Blue whale (188 dB)
• Loudest per burst: Sperm whale clicks (230 dB)
• Loudest on land: Howler monkey (140 dB)
• Loudest short burst of energy: Pistol shrimp (218 dB, but not really "audible")

But if you’re asking what feels the loudest to a human ear? Probably the howler monkey, or if you’re lucky (or unlucky) enough to be near a sperm whale’s clicks, that could physically shake your body.

Mike, after all this, leaned back and sighed. "Okay, fine," he admitted. "But if I had to hear any of them in my backyard, I’d still pick the whale over a bunch of howler monkeys at 5 AM."

Fair enough.

Is 165 cm normal for a 15 year old?

The predicted height for a female, based on your parents heights, is 155 to 165cm. Most 15 year old girls are nearly done growing. I was too. It's a very normal height for a girl.

Is 160 cm too tall for a 12 year old?

How Tall Should a 12 Year Old Be? We can only speak to national average heights here in North America, whereby, a 12 year old girl would be between 137 cm to 162 cm tall (4-1/2 to 5-1/3 feet). A 12 year old boy should be between 137 cm to 160 cm tall (4-1/2 to 5-1/4 feet).

How tall is a average 15 year old?

Average Height to Weight for Teenage Boys - 13 to 20 Years

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Staying physically active is even more essential from childhood to grow and improve overall health. But taking it up even in adulthood can help you add a few inches to your height. Strength-building exercises, yoga, jumping rope, and biking all can help to increase your flexibility and grow a few inches taller.

Is 5.7 a good height for a 15 year old boy?

Generally speaking, the average height for 15 year olds girls is 62.9 inches (or 159.7 cm). On the other hand, teen boys at the age of 15 have a much higher average height, which is 67.0 inches (or 170.1 cm).

Can you grow between 16 and 18?

Most girls stop growing taller by age 14 or 15. However, after their early teenage growth spurt, boys continue gaining height at a gradual pace until around 18. Note that some kids will stop growing earlier and others may keep growing a year or two more.

Can you grow 1 cm after 17?

Even with a healthy diet, most people's height won't increase after age 18 to 20. The graph below shows the rate of growth from birth to age 20. As you can see, the growth lines fall to zero between ages 18 and 20 ( 7 , 8 ). The reason why your height stops increasing is your bones, specifically your growth plates.