  a purr is a sound made by at least some species of felids. it varies between cats (for example by loudness and tone), and from species to species, but can be characterized as a tonal buzzing. the term "purring" has been used liberally in literature, and it has been claimed that viverrids (civet, mongoose, genet), bears, badgers, hyaenas (et cetera) purr. other animals that have been said to purr are rabbits, squirrels, guinea pigs, tapirs, ring-tailed lemurs, elephants,http://www.elephants.com/media/philadelphia_enquirer_5_4_05.htm raccoons and gorillas while eating. however, using a strict definition of purring that continuous sound production must alternate between pulmonic egressive and ingressive airstream (and usually go on for minutes), peters (2002), in an exhaustive review of the scientific literature, reached the conclusion that until then only âpurring catsâ (felidae) and two species of genets, genetta tigrina, and most likely also genetta genetta, had been documented to purr. ==mechanism== the mechanism by which cats purr is ambiguous. this is partly because the cat has no unique anatomical feature that is clearly responsible for the sound, except for a unique âneural oscillatorâ in the catâs brain. one hypothesis, backed by electromyographic studies, is that cats produce the purring noise by using the vocal folds and/or the muscles of the larynx to alternately dilate and constrict the glottis rapidly, causing air vibrations during inhalation and exhalation.k.m. dyce, w.o. sack and c.j.g. wensing in textbook of veterinary anatomy 3rd ed. 2002, saunders, philadelphia; p156 combined with the steady inhalation and exhalation of air as the cat breathes, a purring noise is produced with strong harmonics.how a puma purrs purring is sometimes accompanied by other sounds, though this varies from cat to cat; in the audio samples that accompany this article, th
Animal_sounds Cat_behavior