Saturday 8 June 2024

Turn It Down Animals

There i was stood outside work having a vape when a Robin popped out of the bush i was stood next to and we looked at each other, i thought that's cute and i can't pretend to know what the Robin was thinking but it began to chirp? sing? right in my bloody ear and wow it was so loud it made me jump which made it fly away in fright so when i got back in i googled how loud is a Robins chirp? song? and it is apparently around 70 db which is as loud as a washing machine or a dishwasher and i suppose because it was a few feet away from my ear and much shriller, sounded much louder.  
I have heard somewhere that bird song is getting louder to compensate for the noise of the City and that is fine as long as they don't do it right next to the only one good ear i have left but i did wonder what animal would you really not want to be next to if it decided to make a noise.
The Noise Awareness website has 140dB as the level at which noise causes pain for most people and 150 decibels will rupture a human eardrum so you really wouldn't want to be next to a Sperm Whale as the LiveScience website has it clocked at 230db and you might want to step away from the snapping shrimp Synalpheus pinkfloydi (named after the band Pink Floyd) as the noise it makes reaches 210db.
What shrimps lack in size they make up for in making a proper racket because another shrimp, the tiger pistol shrimp can create a noise up to 200 decibels which tops gunshots at 170db and then it is back to the Whales again and the Blue Whale's 188 db is only 1db less than a rocket launching.  
Other animals which would cause queues at the hearing aid department are the Atlantic spotted dolphins and Bottlenose dolphins who both hit 163db and then onto dry land for the Rooster who beats a plane taking off to cock-a-doodle at 142db.
The greater bulldog bat squeaks at 140 db which beats the lesser bulldog bat which can only reach 137db and then its the Northern Elephant Seal which can imitate a power drill at 131 decibels, beating the Salmon-crested cockatoos at 129 decibels and African elephants who can trumpet at 117 decibels,
Hippos (115 db), Lions (115db), Ostriches (114db) and baboons would be annoying but you would still have working ears but the most impressive has to be the male water boatman who rubs its penis against its abdomen to reach sounds of 99db.
All in all then a Robin in my ear isn't that bad, much worse if it had been a Sperm Whale or a water boatman with a large penis.

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