History Main / IncorrectAnimalNoise

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicSchoolBus'' episode "Hops Home", there is an opossum that makes rodent-like noises.

* In the episode "Ol' Hootie" from ''WesternAnimation/Squidbillies'', there is an owl that makes the generic red-tailed hawk screech.

* The swan in ''Film/HotFuzz'' honks like a goose. The common white swan is more properly known as the "Mute Swan"; it is capable of making some sounds, usually hissing at predators (or people who get too close), but not honking.

** Hyenas in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' often make dog noises, with the exception of the hooting laughter of the spotted hyena. Despite their physical resemblance to canines, hyenas belong to a family of their own, and their closest relatives are civets and genets.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicVoyage'' features ashark who roars like a cougar.

* While ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'' has plenty of problems, "The Howling" shows dinosaurs [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin howling]] like ''wolves''.

* ''Franchise/JurassicPark'':
** While it remains unknown to this day what non-avian dinosaurs must have sounded like, paleontologists don't think it's likely that ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' could make mammal-like roars and bellows as in the films. That said, it also makes crocodile-like growling and drumming noises, which paleontologists believe ''was'' possible for ''Tyrannosaurus''.
** ''Brachiosaurus'' and other sauropods are depicted singing like whales. While bellowing or "singing" isn't out of the question [[note]]The skull of a brachiosaurus has a large nasal cavity that may have acted as a resonating chamber, as well as signs that their hearing was attuned to low-frequency sounds[[/note]], whale song specifically is very mammalian.

Animals have a variety of noises and even relatively closely related animals can sound completely different from one another. This applies even to animals within the same species--certain tiny dog breeds have deep barks because they're either sized-down versions of large dogs or they were bred for their bark (for example, beagles).

This is often due to mixing up species. Animals who look similar or belong in the same general family are assumed to sound alike, when in reality they don't. Common examples include foxes, wolves and hyenas sounding like dogs, all big cats sounding like lions, all big whales sounding like humpback whales, all seabirds sounding like herring gulls, [[ZebrasAreJustStripedHorses zebras sounding like horses]], and [[PenguinsAreDucks penguins sounding like ducks]]. Special mention must go to frogs. Only one type of frog goes "ribbit" - the Pacific tree frog; it lives in Hollywood. Go figure.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicVoyage''. A shark who roars like a cougar is just icing on the WTF Cake that is this animated feature.

** ''Brachiosaurus'' and other sauropods are depicted singing like whales. While bellowing or "singing" isn't out of the question [[note]]The skull of a brachiosaurus has a large nasal cavity that may have acted as a resonating chamber, as well as signs that their hearing was attuned to low-frequency sounds[[/note]], whale song is very mammalian.

** ''Brachiosaurus'' and other sauropods are depicted singing like whales, which is also considered unlikely.

* IncorrectAnimalNoises: For whatever reason, Mr. Freeze’s two polar bears in WesternAnimation/BatmanAndMisterFreezeSubZero constantly let out big cat roars and growls and seldomly utter actual bear vocalizations.

** Alongside the cliched use of cougar sounds on leopards and jaguars and the real leopard snarls, Sabor also sounded off with tiger snarls.

This is often due to mixing up species. Animals who look similar or belong in the same general family are assumed to sound alike, when in reality they don't. Common examples include foxes, wolves and hyenas sounding like dogs, all big cats sounding like lions, all big whales sounding like humpback whales, all seabirds sounding like herring gulls, [[ZebrasAreJustStripedHorses zebras sounding like horses]], and [[PenguinsAreDucks penguins sounding like ducks]]. Special mention must go to frogs. Only one type of frog goes "ribbit", the Pacific tree frog. It lives in Hollywood. Go figure.

All owls hoot, all big cats roar, all bears growl the same way, all rodents (and rodent-looking animals) squeak, all monkeys hoot and screech like chimpanzees, and all birds of prey scream like the red-tailed hawk (because [[RuleOfCool a bald eagle's cry MUST be awesome]]). Except, in real life, they don't.

This is often due to mixing up species. Animals who look similar or belong in the same general family are assumed to sound alike, when in reality they don't. Common examples include foxes, wolves and hyenas sounding like dogs, all big cats sounding like tigers, all big whales sounding like humpback whales, all seabirds sounding like herring gulls, [[ZebrasAreJustStripedHorses zebras sounding like horses]], and [[PenguinsAreDucks penguins sounding like ducks]]. Special mention must go to frogs. Only one type of frog goes "ribbit", the Pacific tree frog. It lives in Hollywood. Go figure.

This trope often occurs due to RealityIsUnrealistic. An animal's real cry might not sound "[[VocalDissonance powerful enough]]", so they're replaced with a "cooler" or "more appropriate" sounding cry. This is why lions are often given tiger roars and bald eagles are often given the cries of red-tailed hawks, and giving them their correct respective cries [[TheCoconutEffect may be jarring for those conditioned to hear the replacements]].

** The franchise as a whole almost ''never'' uses lion snarls. The lions use tiger snarls instead. Actual lion roars are only used as howls of pain.
** Hyenas in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' often make dog noises, with the exception of the hooting laughter of the spotted hyena. Despite their physical resemblance to canines, the closest relatives to hyenas are civets and genets.
** Lion characters purr in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride''. Lions can't purr. To boot, they used leopard snarls almost exclusively.

* ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'': Harry, Ron, Neville, and Seamus eat magical sweets that cause them to make sounds. Ron eats a lion roar sweet, but instead makes a leopard snarl.
* ''Film/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': Aslan the lion's roars are instead the throaty growls of a tiger and a leopard. It's downplayed since there were a few lion roars and snarls occasionally edited in.

** In the last segment of "Treehouse of Horror XXIX", Jacqueline turns into a dinosaur and makes roaring noises. Said dinosaur is a ''Parasaurolophus'', believed to have made trumpeting due to its hollow crest.

* While ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'' has plenty of problems, it's farfetched that dinosaurs could howl like wolves as they do in "The Howling".

* ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'': A T. rex goes after Sougo when he walks out of [[TimeMachine Time Majin]] in the Mesozoic era and trumpets like an ''elephant''. While we can't know what T. rex sounded like, it definitely was not the sound of an angry pachyderm.

* ''Film/JurassicPark'': While it remains unknown to this day what non-avian dinosaurs must have sounded like, paleontologists don't think it's likely that ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' could make mammalian roars and bellows as in the films. That said, it also makes crocodile-like growling and drumming noises, which paleontologists believe ''was'' possible for ''Tyrannosaurus''.