Is all the howling in the forests from dangerous animals?

A while ago I was doing a hike from Modiin to Jerusalem, the final stretch was through a forest of sorts. My earphones died in that forest and when I put them back in the charging case I was finally able to hear the surrounding (never wearing earphones on a hike at night again). It was really scary, there was howling, the bushes were moving. I ended up quitting around 1 hr outside of Jerusalem and just ran to the nearest bus stop.

A few people have told me that all those noises come from harmless animals, is this true?