Common Name: Toco toucans. Scientific Name: Ramphastos toco. Type: Birds. Diet: Omnivore. Group Name: Flock. Size: Body: 25 inches; bill: 7. Weight: 20 ounces. Size relative to a 6-ft man:. Least concern. Least Concern Extinct.
Current Population Trend: Decreasing. Share Tweet Email. Go Further. Animals Climate change is shrinking many Amazonian birds. Animals Wild Cities This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city. Toucans combine their extensive vocal calls with tapping and clattering sounds from their bill. Many toucans make barking, croaking, and growling sounds, and mountain toucans make braying sounds like those of a donkey.
Females generally have a higher voice than the males. Although toucans and woodpeckers may not look like they have much in common, they are in the same taxonomic order Piciformes and have a lot in common. Like woodpeckers—and the parrots and macaws they share the forest with—toucans are zygodactylous, meaning they have two toes pointing forward and two pointing backward. This foot design provides strength and stability when moving through dense branches, up and down tree trunks, or in and out of tree cavities.
Both toucans and woodpeckers have a tongue that is long, narrow, and feather-like. Bristles along each side of the tongue help the birds catch and taste food before moving it down the throat. In addition, toucans and woodpeckers have short, stiff tail feathers, called rectrices, and nest in tree cavities. Both toucans and woodpeckers tend to be mostly shiny black, but they are decorated with bright whites, yellows, oranges, reds, and greens, depending on the species.
How do they fit?! Toucans spend their lives high in the rainforest canopies of Central and South America; they seldom make trips to the forest floor. Home for the toucan is a nest in a hollowed-out tree cavity. It might seem odd that a bird with such a large bill would choose a small, enclosed space in which to nest, but the toucan has an interesting approach to getting comfortable.
Once settled in its cozy nook, the toucan turns its head backward and settles its bill down upon its back, tucked under a wing.
It then flips its tail straight up and over its head. A nice, tidy ball of feathers. A toucan's bill is sharp and has saw-like edges.
The bill is used to squash the many kinds of fruit and berries he eats. He may also use the saw-like edges to tear off parts of larger fruits. Also included in their diet are small birds and lizards.
Toucans make their homes in holes in trees. They eat everything from frogs and insects to lizards and small birds. However, the vast majority of their diet consists of fruit. In fact, there are some species of plants that rely on Toucans to spread their seeds by eating their fruit!
The closest relatives of these birds are, surprisingly, the woodpeckers. Woodpeckers and Toucans share several characteristics. They both have long feathery tongues, nest in tree cavities, and have zygodactyl feet with two toes pointing forward and two toes pointing backward. Particularly in certain regions, humans are destroying rainforest at an alarming rate. Without their rainforest habitat, populations of these special birds decline. Humans also capture many different Toucan species for the exotic pet trade.
Some species are more common, and thus less impacted, but for others human activity is more detrimental. For the most part, Toucans do not make good pets. They are relatively intelligent birds, and when they are kept in zoos they need plenty of different toys and foraging opportunities.
It is also illegal to own them in most places. In zoos, Toucans need a variety of perches and plenty of flying space. In the wild, they live in regions with high humidity and lot of vegetation, so their enclosures should replicate this habitat.
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