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What do the howler monkey, horned screamer, and common loon have in common, aside from being nicknames for Paris Hilton? They've been captured on audio (and some video) at the Cornell Ornithology Lab's Macaulay Library. Here you'll find assorted hums, moans, shrieks, and roars from over 3,000 species. Categories include courtship, stalking, territory defense, long distance communication, and marine mammals. We recommend the avant-garde stylings of the horned screamer; the sci-fi sounds of the Weddell seal, and the tortured rumblings of the American alligator. (Think one monster-sized stomach doing battle with an extra-large pepperoni pizza.) The ghostly ensembles of common loons and the strange emanations of the harp seal are sure to send chills down your spine. The gray wolf, on the other hand, can sound remarkably like Fido announcing the arrival of the mailman. So woof.

For the past several years, StoryCorps has created citizen historians out of everyday folks. Armed with simple microphones and tape recorders, people have captured over 8,000 stories of their lives, about traveling in the South during segregation, being identical twins, or surviving Hodgkin's disease. Excerpts are available on this site, and you can browse the short audio clips by topic. Family members often share quirky, moving stories about growing up or home and place. Questions about who you are lead to intriguing stories about businessmen, transsexuals, immigrants, and survivors. September 11 and Hurricane Katrina stories are both represented, too. Like what you've heard here? You can get involved and record your own. Everybody has a story to tell for the ages, and the StoryCorps Archive will be housed in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.