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.
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.
