A toucan is a type of bird with 40 different species ranging in size – the smallest being seven inches and the largest two feet long. Their scientific name is Ramphastos toco. They live on an omnivore diet which means they eat plants and animal meat. They are also close relatives of the woodpecker; they belong to the same order, Piciformes. Woodpeckers make up 400 species of Piciformes, with toucans being much smaller.
Did you know?
- A toucan can live for up to 20 years.
- The toco toucan is the largest and best – they weigh two pounds and can grow up to 25 inches long.
- Their bill (beak) accounts for half of their length.
- Their colorful bill makes them one of the world’s most popular birds.
- A toucan can use its bill to regulate blood flow, allowing them to distribute heat from the body to keep them cooler.
- Toucans and woodpeckers share several characteristics and are considered to be closely related.
- Toucans aren’t that good at flying and spend most of their time hopping along in the trees.
Well-known species of toucan
- Toco Toucan;
- Keel-billed Toucan;
- Channel-billed Toucan;
- Aracari;
- Green-billed Toucan;
- White-throated Toucan;
- Ramphastos;
- Guinanan Toucanet;
- Yellow-eared Toucanet;
- Spot-billed Toucanet;
- Selenidera;
- Golden-collared Toucanet.
Toucan bill
Male and female toucans have colorful and long bills (beak). The account can also play a part in courtship and in self-defense too. It’s made from keratin – the same protein that makes up and helps with the growth of our hair and nails.
The size of a toucan’s bill is to frighten predators away, but it provides little use when they are fighting. They also use the account to help with eating by using it to help them reach for fruit on branches. In addition to fruit, a toucan also likes to eat insects, eggs, and nestlings of young birds.
Toucan fact file
| Scientific name: | Ramphastos toco |
| Type: | Bird |
| Diet: | Omnivore |
| Group name: | Flock |
| Lifespan: | Up to 20 years |
| Weight: | 20 ounces |
| Size: | Body = 25 inches bill = 7.5 inches |
| Class: | Aves (bird) |
| Family: | Ramphastidae |
| Order: | Piciformes |
What do toucans eat?
In the wild, toucans eat animals and plants, including berries, fruits, lizards, insects, and even small birds. In captivity, they usually eat similar foods to match their needs but wouldn’t need to forage. Foods in captivity can include crickets and other insects, fruit, and vegetables.
Did you know that toucans don’t chew their food and cannot cut it into pieces as parrots do? This is because they also don’t have a crop, a dilated pouch of the esophagus that helps store their food. So when zookeepers feed toucans, they usually give food in small bite-size chunks, making it easy to swallow.
Toucan habitat
Although there are different types of toucans, they all like to live in similar habitats. A toucan’s habitat is located in a rainforest, particularly a tropical one. However, they love warm climates with plenty of rainfall too. Therefore, they choose to live in Central and South America, where their preferred habitat is a nest made in a hollowed-out tree cavity. When nesting, a toucan turns its head back to get comfortable; it settles its bill down behind its back and tucks it under its wing.
A few toucans also chose to live only in mountainous areas. Within the mountains, toucans inhabit a canopy high up in the tallest trees. Here, toucans find all the food they need within the treetops, making it the perfect habitat.
Toucans spend most of their morning visiting fruit trees in their habitat for food. They then make longer journeys away from home to other fruit trees to forage further.
Behavior
Toco toucans tend to hop more than they do fly. They feed individually or sometimes in the canopy (a group of toucans). In the rainforest, they use their bright-colored bill as a good way to camouflage in dappled light. Toco toucans, in particular, like to nest in tree cavities – where they lay their eggs and can lay up to four at once.
To communicate with one another, toucans make a lot of noises – including grunting, snoring, and croaking like frogs. They also are very social and can travel in flocks of up to 22 individuals. It’s also known that toucans are monogamous during the mating season, and while they raise their young, the male and female remain together from gestation to birth.
Did you know that young toucan don’t have a long bill at birth; it grows over time and doesn’t reach full size until several months?
Conservation
Luckily, these birds are listed as ‘least concern as they’re not at risk of becoming endangered as they populate a large range across South America. However, there have been records of them declining as they’re hunted for food and illegal pet trade.
Humans are one of the biggest threats as there’s an increasing trend of toucans being captured to be kept as pets, which is illegal as these birds are not suitable to be domesticated.
Another big factor in their numbers decreasing is habitat loss. As rainforests are being chopped down and turned more residential, e.g., into roads, farms, and buildings, toucans are losing their homes. One toucan that has suffered hugely is the yellow-browed toucanet; it has a small habitat range in Peru. However, Coca growers have taken over their habitat. This makes this toucan one of the first to be listed as endangered.
The Toucan is also sadly hunted in Central parts of America and the Amazon too. Many hunters have been known to try and mimic toucan calls to entice them to the hunter. Most toucans are hunted to be sold in the illegal pet trade business, while others can be trophy hunted; these hunters usually stuff the toucans and keep them on display.
It’s roughly estimated that there are around 10,000 mature toucans around the globe, although it’s believed this is decreasing.
What can you do to help protect toucans and their habitat?
Toucans aren’t considered threatened, but there are some ways you can help to keep protect their conservation. For example, you could help by avoiding products made from rainforest wood to help protect toucan’s habitat.
Life at the zoo for toucans
Many toucans live in zoos worldwide, and their diet and habitat differ when they live in captivity. Toucans in captivity are fed pellets specially made for their bills, fruit, vegetables, and crickets. They are also provided fruits like bananas as a reward when training them.
Reproduction of the Toucan
All species of toucans nest within cavities in the tree trunks. Different species, however, lay differently; for example, some species lay one single egg while others can lay up to five. The eggs called chicks, take around 15 to 20 days to hatch; they then begin to fly when they’re six to eight weeks old.
The chicks hatch with their eyes closed and bare skin and depend on their mother to survive. When the chicks reach three weeks of age, their eyes open, and they begin to form feathers. They remain in the nest with their mother for six to eight weeks and start to grow into their bill. However, while the chicks stay in the nest, the mother must watch on predators such as eagles, hawks, owls, and jaguars as they often invade their nests. To protect themselves, toucans use their loud voice and bill to keep predators away. They usually hit their account against a branch creating a loud noise to try and scare them away.
Did you know that toucans use their bill as part of their courtship ritual?
Toucan Lifespan
It’s believed that toucans can live up to 20 years in the wild; however, in zoos, their life span decreases to around 18 years on average.
Toucan Facts
- Toucans adopted their name because of the noise they make; they can resemble a frog croaking, chirping, barking, and donkey-like noises.
- Female toucans have higher vocal ranges than males.
- A toucan can use their bill as part of its mating ritual, tossing fruit to one another from its bill.
- Toucans can only fly for small distances as their wingspan is small and is around the same length as their bodies.
- They are social birds that like to travel in groups of 22 birds to search for food.
- Toucans have the largest bill of any bird in the world.
- Toucans take shelter in hollowed-out trees created by their cousins – woodpeckers.
- A chick is incubated for 20 days. When they’re born, they don’t have their usual long bill. Instead, they grow into it over time.
- The average lifespan is around 20 years.
- A whole array of colors is possible for a toucan’s bill – not just the conventional orange; they can also be brown, red, or green!
- Humans, snakes, and jaguars are the biggest predators of toucans.
- A constellation was named after the toucan; it’s called the tucana!
- The Toco toucan is the largest and most well-known species.
- One of the oldest toucans is said to have lived for 26 years.
- The smallest toucan species is called the aracari.
- The toucan’s bill releases heat.
- Although a toucan’s bill looks large and big, it’s very light.
- A toucan is believed to be a sign of intelligence.
- Some people keep toucans as pets.
- Toucans mate once a year.
- A toucan’s tongue is said to resemble leather.
