 Similar to human interpretation of growling, elephants are able to distinguish the threat level based on the individual growl and will respond accordingly; elephants will retreat from tigers, but defend against leopards.Domestic house cats also growl, sounding like "brrrrrooowwww", usually followed by the typical hissing sound.In domestic cats, growling is a warning noise, implying unhappiness, annoyance, fear or other forms of aggression, and is a signal to back off.