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What Did Dinosaurs Really Sound Like? Jurassic Park’s Roars Are Movie Sound Design

Jurassic Park shaped the sound of dinosaurs for generations, but fossils have not revealed a true T. rex roar. Here’s what rare larynx finds and computer models can—and can’t—tell us.
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The roars and growls associated with Jurassic Park are cinematic sound effects, not recordings recovered from fossils. Scientists have found limited evidence about how a few non-avian dinosaurs may have produced or modified sound, but no discovery establishes one authentic dinosaur voice—and the available evidence does not tell us what Tyrannosaurus rex sounded like.

What did T. rex sound like?

The honest answer is that we do not know. Mark Norell, curator at the American Museum of Natural History, says: “But determining if T. rex was a growler—or if it communicated in ultrasound, we really can’t tell from the available evidence.” AMNH’s T. rex Q&A does not establish a roar, growl, rumble, or any other specific call.

A fossil skull or skeleton can preserve structures relevant to sound, but it is not a recording. The sources cited here offer no validated frequency or loudness for a T. rex vocalization. Claims that it definitely sounded like a lion, crocodile, bird, or movie monster go beyond this evidence.

What dinosaur voice-box fossils can—and cannot—tell us

Pinacosaurus: a possible sound modifier

A 2023 peer-reviewed study described fossilized laryngeal elements in Pinacosaurus grangeri, an ankylosaur. The authors compared the anatomy with that of living reptiles and birds and proposed that its large, movable larynx may have modified sound. They argued it may have supported bird-like vocal activity, but did not report a fossil syrinx—the vocal source found in birds—or identify a specific call. The paper noted that a syrinx had not been reported in non-avian dinosaurs. Read the study in Communications Biology.

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Pulaosaurus: a second rare example

A 2025 species description reported ossified laryngeal elements in Pulaosaurus qinglong, a neornithischian dinosaur. Its authors described it as the second known dinosaur preserving such elements and suggested bird-like vocalization may have evolved early in non-avian dinosaur evolution. That is an inference from a rare anatomical fossil, not proof that Pulaosaurus made modern bird calls—or that other dinosaurs sounded the same. See the PubMed record for the species description.

Neither animal is T. rex. Their laryngeal anatomy expands what researchers can investigate, but it cannot simply be assigned to tyrannosaurs or generalized to every dinosaur.

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How to distinguish a fossil, a sound model, and a movie effect

Evidence or example What it establishes What it does not establish
Fossil larynx in Pinacosaurus (2023) Preserved laryngeal anatomy; authors propose a sound-modifying function. A recording, exact call, or T. rex voice.
Ossified laryngeal elements in Pulaosaurus (2025) A second reported dinosaur with preserved laryngeal elements; authors suggest early bird-like vocalization. That all dinosaurs vocalized alike, or a specific audible sound.
Parasaurolophus computer model An anatomy-informed simulation exploring possible sounds and assumptions. A recovered voice or definitive reconstruction.
Jurassic Park sound design A deliberately created cinematic soundscape. Documentary evidence of dinosaur calls.

What a Parasaurolophus sound reconstruction actually does

Sandia National Laboratories and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science used CT scans and computer modeling to explore a low-frequency sound from Parasaurolophus’s elaborate hollow crest. The project simulated versions with and without vocal cords because researchers were uncertain whether the animal had them. It is an instructive example of modeling: anatomy constrains possibilities, while unresolved biological assumptions shape the output. It is not a recording or definitive proof of the animal’s voice. Sandia’s account of the project.

Why Jurassic Park’s dinosaur sounds feel convincing

Jurassic Park was released in 1993, and its dinosaur sounds were created for dramatic effect. The film’s recognizable roars helped shape what audiences expect dinosaurs to sound like, but a powerful soundscape is not a scientific reconstruction. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures documents the film and its effects context. Learn about Jurassic Park at the Academy Museum.

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The sound design also serves the action. In a Twenty Thousand Hertz feature about dinosaur effects, paleontologist Julia Clarke, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, observes: “That’s not a context in which most predators produce sound.” Her comment addresses the plausibility of vocalizing while chasing prey; it is not proof that a particular dinosaur could never make a sound. Listen to “Tyrannosaurus FX: What dinosaurs really sounded like”.

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So have we been wrong for 30 years?

Not in the sense that science had settled on a true dinosaur roar and then disproved it. The more careful account is that a memorable movie sound became a cultural expectation, while discoveries of rare vocal anatomy have since offered limited clues about particular dinosaurs. Those fossils add constraints and raise new questions; they do not reveal a universal dinosaur voice or settle what T. rex sounded like.

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What we can say is narrower: some fossilized laryngeal structures may inform hypotheses about sound production or modification; computer models can explore possibilities when their assumptions are made explicit; and Jurassic Park’s roars belong to film sound design. The exact calls of these animals remain unknown.

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