The howler monkey is a large type of monkey that can be spotted in the rainforests of South and Central America. Its strange name comes from the fact that its calls are louder than any other types of monkeys.
There are quite a few kinds of sounds produced by the howlers. This includes loud grunts, roars, and barks and of course, howls. The monkeys are most vocal at dawn and dusk. A troop’s cries give information about their size and location.
Now you may wonder how loud howler monkeys are. In fact, they are believed to be the loudest animals in the world. When a troop gets together and start howling, barking and grunting, the sound can be heard up to 4.8 kilometres away!
What helps them produce such loud calls is the hyoid bone. This is a structure located near the neck that looks like a horseshoe in humans, but in howler monkeys, they are larger and more cup-like. It allows the animal to produce a single roar that lasts for about 8 seconds.