As members of the genus Panthera, not only are they totally fierce creatures, but the epihyal bone in the voice box is replaced by a ligament, explains BBC Wildlife Magazine.
In fact, one study found that a tiger’s roar has the power to paralyze animals that hear it, including human with experience around tigers.
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And then there’s the cheetah.
Weighing in at up to 150 pounds, cheetahs are the world’s fastest land mammal. They can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles an hour in only three seconds, striking prey in the blink of an eye. But fearsome as they may be, there is something they can’t do: Roar. Cheetahs meow like a housecat. Unlike their roaring cousins, cheetahs also purr.
BBC explains that the bones of the cheetah’s voice box comprise a fixed structure, with divided vocal cords that vibrate with both inhaling and exhaling.
Cheetahs have also perfected the chirrup—a bird-like chirp they often use to locate one another.
