Laura Moss is a journalist with more than 15 years of experience writing about science, nature, culture, and the environment. Squirrels, common birds, and the occasional raccoon or opossum are about ...

This may come as a surprise to you, but animals don’t make the same sounds everywhere. Cats go “meow,’’ right? Nope. In Japan, they go “nyan.’’ Pigs in Russia don’t “oink;’’ they “hrgu-hrgu.’’ Prof.

Damien Pollard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...