infrasound

Giraffes have always been considered mute, despite their long necks, but now scientists believe they can talk to each other. “We believe that giraffes are forcing large columns of air out their long, long trachea, and out of a small opening, which is actually their larynx,” says researcher Liz von Muggenthaler. “And that is creating a sound.”

Giraffes communicate infrasound, which is far beneath our own hearing, and they produce this by throwing back their heads. “What this is doing is opening up the larynx so that air can pass freely through,” she says. “If you could hear it, it would sound like a great burst of air: PSSH.”
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