what sound does a rhino make

A rhino doesn’t have just one sound – it has a whole little “voice pack” of grunts, snorts, bellows and squeals, depending on its mood and situation.

Quick Scoop: What sound does a rhino make?

Rhinos are usually quiet, but when they do speak up, they use several distinct vocalisations.

• Grunts and growls when showing dominance or warning rivals.

• Deep bellows and roaring grunts in aggressive encounters or when tussling.

• Snorts as short warning or irritation signals, a quick “back off” message.

• Mooing or “honking” calls between mothers and calves for comfort and contact.

• High‑pitched squeals, shrieks or trumpeting when excited, anxious or startled.

• Panting calls used especially by mothers to call their calves or signal danger.

Researchers and field recordists describe their overall sound palette as including grunting, growling, mooing, panting, squealing, screaming and trumpeting. Different species, like the White Rhino and Greater One‑horned (Indian) Rhino, are reported to make breathy snorts, roars, loud mooing honks, soft whistles, and strange trumpeting calls. There is also evidence that rhinos use very low‑frequency infrasonic sounds we can’t hear, adding a hidden layer to their communication.

If you want to “say it” in words

People often write rhino sounds loosely as things like:

• “grrr” or “gronk” for grunts and growls.

• “mwoooh” or “muuurrr” for the deep mooing bellows.

• “snff!” or “hff!” for snorts.

• “reeee!” or “squee!” for squeals and screams.

It’s not exact, of course, but it gives a rough idea: imagine a mix between a cow’s moo, a pig‑like grunt, and a distant, trumpeting squeal, all coming from a very large, very solid animal.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.