What animal does not have vocal cords?

Examples of animals that are quiet and make no sounds include butterflies, giraffes, crabs, and rabbits.

There are 4 groups of animals: mammals, birds, amphibians, and fish. Mammals have lungs and vocal cords while birds have syrinx or a voice box.

Fish do not have vocal cords and they use gestures and motion to communicate with each other underwater.

Some amphibians can’t make sounds either because their throats don’t allow them to produce sound from vibrations when they breathe through their larynx as humans do.

Examples of Animals that Are Quiet & Make no Sounds

1. Butterflies

Butterflies communicate with each other through colors and by spreading their wings. Different kinds of butterflies have different patterns on the wing that are only recognizable to members of their own species.

Butterflies also release chemicals into the air called pheromones which let others know about their kind, much like a perfume or cologne does for humans.

2. Clams

Clams have no vocal cords. They can’t make any sounds either! There are many types of clams such as the northern quahog and the giant clam, which was once considered to be extinct but after a few specimens were found in 2006, they started being sold at aquariums again since then.

Clams need these shells to protect themselves and to keep their soft bodies safe from predators.

3. Crabs

Stridulation is the term used to describe the rubbing of certain body parts together, such as when insects do it while walking. Scientists have long known that crabs use this same leg-rubbing method to communicate, as well as ridges on the claws and arms that are rubbed together to make noise.

Crabs stridulate by rubbing the smooth part of their shell with one leg and then scraping it against a ridge on the other. If you listen closely, sometimes they’ll even make several sounds in succession before stopping for a while to wait for an answer from another crab who is listening nearby.

4. Giraffes

With their long necks, it’s not surprising that giraffes are known for being silent. This is because they don’t actually have vocal cords as humans do instead they have larynx in their throats.

They have one located at the base of their neck which is much larger than ours. This allows them to make deep sounds that are too low for humans to hear.

Even though giraffes can’t actually talk to each other, they do communicate in unique ways.

For example, when a mother is ready to give birth, she will crane her neck back and forth while making low bellowing noises for hours at a time before the baby finally arrives.

5. Goldfish

Fish use a lot of body language to communicate with one another. Goldfish are constantly “flaring” or moving their gills to show dominance.

They also use body language, such as chasing one another away from food and each other’s territory, all while making no noise.

6. Jellyfish

Jellyfish are known for being silent creatures. They have no means to communicate with others, except through movement or colorful light signals.

The lack of communication in jellyfish can be attributed to them having no brains and the fact that they don’t need much intelligence when it comes to finding food or avoiding predators.

There have been some studies on the topic of jellyfish communication, but they haven’t yielded any satisfying results.

While scientists remain uncertain about how jellyfish communicate amongst themselves, their lack of sound makes them 100% quiet.

7. Lizards

Some lizards do not make sounds. Instead of making a sound, they use their bodies to communicate with other lizards.

For example, if one lizard is trying to scare another lizard away, it will puff up its body and open its mouth wide as a warning sign for the other lizard to stay away from where it is laying eggs.

8. Man O’Wars

Man O’Wars is another creature that is completely silent and they don’t even communicate with their own species.

9. Moths

Moths are like butterflies. They do not communicate through noise. In fact, they like to stay as quiet and hidden as possible to avoid predation. They stay perfectly quiet and only travel at night to avoid detection by potential predators like birds.

10. Octopus

Octopus are nocturnal creatures that live in the sea. They do not make sounds, but they communicate to each other through light signals and vibrations underwater.

Octopus can change their skin color within seconds to blend in with their surroundings making them very difficult to spot in the dark depths of the ocean. This camouflaging ability makes it easy for octopuses to sneak up on their prey.

11. Rabbits

Rabbits do not have vocal cords. Instead, they produce noise by grinding their teeth and forcing air over the pharynx. This is similar to what humans sound like when we clear our throats.

Rabbits communicate by using their body languages, such as ear position and tail movement. They do not make any sounds to express themselves.

12. Sea Anemones

The sea anemones don’t have vocal cords or voice boxes and they also lack a brain (like jellyfish).

They do have a rudimentary nervous system that allows them to sense touch, light, and chemicals.

13. Sea Cucumber

Sea cucumbers, for example, are echinoderms that live on the seafloor. They use waterborne signals to communicate with each other. Waterborne signals are transmitted by creating a wave from the water passing over its body.

It is believed that they may be able to sense vibrations from one another and their surroundings using sensory organs, but they do not make any sounds.

14. Sea Lilies (Cronoids)

Sea Lilies don’t make sound at all because they lack a brain just like the jellyfish and the sea anemones.

15. Sea Squirts

Sea Squirts, although they share the same chordate phylum as us vertebrates, lack a brain and therefore also lack vocal cords or any other mechanism for making a sound.

16. Sea Urchins

Sea urchins have an interesting way of communicating. Spines located on the back of the sea urchin’s body are actually a series of small pouches attached to nerve cells.

Sea Urchins can release chemicals from these pores, which produce colorless and odorless mucus strands that float around water currents for other animals and sea urchins to smell.

17. Sharks

Shark does not have any organs that can make noises. Even their scales have been altered to enable them to glide through the water with silents.

A new study has shown that some sharks are able to sense their social connections through electrical fields created by muscle contractions, rather than just emitting sonar sounds.

Sharks have no ears or any other way to hear outside of sensing vibrations in the water. But they can feel magnetic fields and generate bioelectric currents within themselves, which serves as a form of communication for these creatures with no ears.

The team found that signals travel along axons – bundles of animal fibers similar to nerves – in the center of each tissue sample called ‘nerve rings’. The nerve rings are thought to act as antennae, picking up on fluctuating electric fields from other nearby tissues.

18. Sloths

Sloths are one of the only species in the animal kingdom that have no sounds at all.

These creatures communicate using a series of gestures and motions with their bodies instead of sounds.

Sloth babies, on the other hand, make shrill squeaks when frightened or left alone and adults produce low-frequency noises when the animal is alarmed or afraid.

19. Snails

Snails do not make any noise at all!

Snails and slugs have two tentacles on their heads that they use to interact with one another through touch.

Other individuals can interpret a trail of mucus left by snails and slugs. They also talk to each other using chemical residue aside from this.

20. Sponges

Just like sea squirts, the sea sponge is also a non-sounds-making animal that does not have a brain either.

Sponges can spray water out of their pores to capture food and remove parasites and debris from their surfaces.

21. Starfish

The starfish are silent predators of the ocean with no vocal cords making them silent and deadly.

The starfish uses a unique system for communication instead. They use small tube feet on their underside to move around in search of food and to defend themselves.

When they come upon a tasty treat, such as an oyster or clam, they will attach to the shell and pry it open using their suction-like feet.

They also use these tube feet for communication with other starfish through water pressure on bumps located near the base of each leg.

22. Turtles

Some turtle species are known to produce high-pitched noises, even if they don’t have vocal cords.

The sounds they make, however, come from their lungs, including hisses, grunts, honks, and moans but are too faint for humans to hear.

23. Worms

Worms do not make audible noises, but instead, use touch and taste to communicate.

Worms can also feel vibrations in the ground, which comes in useful when hiding from predators.

But after all, worms spend the majority of their existence underground or under rocks and stones, so why wouldn’t they be quiet?

Hi, I’m Garreth. Living in South Africa I’ve had the pleasure of seeing most of these animals up close and personal. When I was younger I always wanted to be a game ranger but unfortunately, life happens and now at least I get to write about them and tell you my experiences.