Some Wild Cat Vocalisations

I am pleased to be able to bring you some wild cat vocalisations thanks to Balázs Buzás. He is currently the Head of Department in the Breeding Centre for Endangered Arabian Wildlife (BCEAW) in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Before that he worked with cat species and other carnivores in the Rare Species Conservation Centre in Kent, United Kingdom. He has visited 82 countries on 4 continents in the course of his work. Balázs was born in Budapest, the capital city of Hungary in 1974.

His personal webpage is balazsbuzas.com and his email, should you wish to contact him, is: bbuzas@gmail.com

OK, in the two videos below you can hear vocalisations of the following wildcats:

  • Jaguarundi
  • Asiatic golden cat
  • Caracal
  • Snow leopard
  • Puma

The videos state the circumstances under which the vocalisations are made. The range of types of vocalisations is not complete in the videos but the examples are interesting.

I have a page on the vocalisations of the jaguarundi so will not discuss those here (the jaguarundi video is repeated on that page). The information for that page comes primarily from Balázs Buzás, by the way.

Below I write about the sounds produced by the other cats mentioned: Asiatic golden cat, caracal, snow leopard and puma.

From a purely scientific standpoint, there is not a great deal of information about some wild cat vocalisations. My reference for the information below is The Wild Cats Of The World ISBN-13: 978-0-226-77999-7.  There are full pages on these wild cats on this website: jaguarundi, Asiatic golden cat, caracal, snow leopard and puma.

Asiatic golden cat

The vocalisations of this small wild cat are believed to be wide ranging and probably includes, but not exceed, the 12 vocalisations that have been recorded for most cats (see cat sounds). The vocalisations include: hissing, meowing, growling, purring and gurgling when in close contact.

Caracal

The caracal makes the same basic felid vocalisations as mentioned above and includes a “harsh, hissing ‘bark'”, which was employed when:

  • the cat was brought into an enclosure
  • a female was subjected to an attempt by a male to mount her.

A caracal’s ears are a big part of this cat’s communication repertoire.

Snow leopard

According to the authors of the reference book I am using, snow leopards mainly communicate by scent marks. As to vocalisations, the range is similar to other wildcats but snow leopards don’t purr or roar.

Snow leopards spit, hiss, growl and “cough roar”. They also make a uniquely wildcat sound, the prusten. This is a “greeting and appeasement call”. They have a piercing yowl which is described as their “main call”.  It is probably used to locate each other and is used by females in heat. The yowl is heard during the mating season, usually in the evening, and the sound travels well.

See also the social organisation of the snow leopard.

Puma

The puma is a well known wildcat. I have a page dedicated to puma sounds.

Some wild cat vocalisations to home page.

1 thought on “Some Wild Cat Vocalisations”

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