If you happen to be strolling in the African savannah and hear a lion’s roar, you may want to turn in the opposite direction. But watching a baby lion practicing its roar right next to its mother is one of the most adorable sights you could ever witness. A tourist was lucky to see and capture this exciting occurrence on video. The little cab can be seen walking around and letting off its little roar as if warning those listening to watch out for their next king. What is even more delightful is how its little roar sounds like that of a domestic cat, but the little lion wouldn’t give up practicing, perhaps hoping to hit the right note and send all other animals scampering for safety.
Why Do Lions Roar?
The lion’s roar serves more purposes than merely showing off. Yes, showing off is important in the lion’s world because it helps a male stand out and capture the attention of the females. A lion may roar to communicate to their pride members about its location, show off its strength, or intimidate other lions into staying away from its territory. The King of the Jungle may sometimes roar to warn its pride members of imminent danger. Although the lion’s roar is mainly associated with the male lion, it is interesting to note that both female and male lions roar. A lion’s roar can be as loud as 114 decibels, which explains why you can hear it from five miles away.
How Does A Lion Manage To Give Out Such A Loud Roar?
The mechanism of the lion’s roar depends on a single organ: its larynx. It is also known as its voice box. Generally, all animals produce sounds when air from the lungs passes through the vocal folds in the voice box. Flowing air causes these folds to vibrate, producing sound pulses. The precise volume and characteristics of the sound produced depend on air pressure and the larynx’s muscles. These muscles manipulate the vocal folds’ precise tension and length. The lion’s roar is distinctly loud because of the shape of its vocal folds. While the human vocal folds are triangular, those of the ion and other big cats are square-shaped. The fat deposits inside their vocal fold ligaments help to flatten the vocal folds, allowing them to assume square shapes. The square shape of these folds allows the lion to stabilize its vocal cords to respond better to the passing air stream. The stability enables the King of the Jungle to produce loud roars without exerting excessive pressure on its lungs. The voice box of the baby lion in the video is obviously not fully developed. When it eventually does, you would not want to be anywhere near it when it roars, as it will be as scary as it can get.
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