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  • myrmepropagandistfuturebird@sauropods.win
    Oct 17, 2026, 8:52 AM

    Since geese hiss, we might assume that dinosaurs of old could hiss. So, then did the cats learn to hiss to imitate the great near-avians of that other age?

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Replies

  • myrmepropagandistfuturebird@sauropods.win
    Oct 17, 2026, 8:55 AM

    Hissing is pretty universally recognized across a wide collection of creatures as "go away!"

    I really do wonder how old it is.

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  • myrmepropagandistfuturebird@sauropods.win
    Oct 17, 2026, 8:56 AM

    Wingless wasps, which are sometimes called "ants" can't hiss, but they do squeak angrily.

    But their bright colors make their point better.

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  • JoePJoeP@mastodon.world
    Oct 17, 2026, 11:17 AM

    @futurebird
    I felt it necessary to check whether you were implying that ALL ants are in fact wingless wasps. And then I felt it necessary to share what I found:
    * Yes, but probably not what you meant
    * Ants, bees and wasps are all hymenoptera, and either we call them all wasps, or wasps are paraphyletic. It looks the ancestral groups were wasps, but I may not be reading correctly. You can probably correct me here.
    * You are probably referring to groups like velvet ants ... 1/2

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  • Passengerpassenger@kolektiva.social
    Oct 17, 2026, 8:57 AM

    @futurebird

    To throw an unfalsifiable hypothesis into the ring: each species originally learned it from geysers.

    When a geyser makes a hissing sound, it's warning you to go away, for your own good.

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  • Chad Bakercalbaker@fosstodon.org
    Oct 17, 2026, 10:00 AM

    @futurebird

    I've had opossums, turtles, snakes, cats, and at least a few other things hiss at me when I inadvertently got too close, and it gets the point across!

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  • llewellyllewelly@sauropods.win
    Oct 17, 2026, 6:16 PM

    @futurebird I would guess on the ability to hiss to be ancestral to all tetrapods, since several salamanders can hiss.

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  • bencourticebencourtice@aus.social
    Oct 17, 2026, 9:15 AM

    @futurebird we used to have a cat, Lygar, he killed small lizards but one day I found him basking next to a full-grown (25-30cm) Bluetongue lizard on the paving out front. I surmise the Bluetongue probably hissed defensively on approach, Lygar would have backed off saying "gotcha bro, how about we just catch some rays together" and they would have got on fine from there.

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  • dataramadatarama@hachyderm.io
    Oct 17, 2026, 9:17 AM

    @futurebird Crocodiles can hiss, and many birds can hiss - so it's very likely that non-avian dinosaurs could hiss too.

    In fact, I think it probably goes much further back: Lizards and snakes hiss too, and I wouldn't be surprised if their last common ancestor with the dinosaurs did as well. Igor, being a civilised and dignified lizard, will usually huff rather than hiss (he *can* hiss, he just almost never does it).

    I'm *less* sure if Pika's and Igor's last common ancestor also hissed. Hissing is a lot less widespread in mammals than it is in reptiles, and most amphibians can't hiss.

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  • myrmepropagandistfuturebird@sauropods.win
    Oct 17, 2026, 9:19 AM

    @datarama

    It's honestly embarrassing how little I know about dinosaurs given my server home. Although I've been learning.

    How is Igor, by the way?

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  • JoePJoeP@mastodon.world
    Oct 17, 2026, 11:02 AM

    @futurebird This is the second time I've thought about geese today. The first was also due to a post of yours, the one about "spineless" vs exoskeletons and standing up and ... actually it would be more logical to reply to that post. #geese #hiss #StandUpForYourself

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