Forget those ground-shaking roars from the movies. Dinosaurs may have sounded a lot more like birds than beasts, a new study reveals.

Researchers in Japan are piecing together clues after analyzing what may be the first known larynx (voice box) of a dinosaur. The team compared the larynx of an ankylosaur (above) with the voice boxes of dozens of modern birds and reptiles, including crocodiles. believe that dinosaurs were related to both of those animal groups. 

The ankylosaur’s larynx had a pair of long bones that could have let its airway change shape, explains Junki Yoshida, the study’s lead researcher. That might have allowed the prehistoric creature to coo, chirp, and make other birdlike sounds. The ankylosaur also could have opened its airway wide enough to make loud, far-reaching calls. Now that’s something to “tweet” about!