TOUCANS
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The Toco Toucan is the largest of the toucan family with a large lightweight beak and a body with a length of 25 inches. Its large beak is full of many different combination of blue, red, yellow, and orange colors. However, the body is mostly black with one or two colors in it that are most of the time located on its tail and beneath his beak. Toucans are easily spotted in flight with their big colorful beaks and their distinct way of flying. Most of the time that they fly is only over short distances. They usually hop from branch to branch. Toucan bills can be one-third of the bird's total length. Even though the bill appears to be heavy, it is actually composed of extremely light weight bone covered with keratin-the same material as human fingernails. The bill is also believed to have a frightening effect on other birds, including hawks. The wings of toucans are short and rounded, and the tail is usually long; these traits, along with the long bill, make toucans ungainly fliers. |
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CLASSIFICATION Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Piciformes Family: Ramphsdtos Genus: Ramphastidae Species: Ramphastos toco
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Diet
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A toucan's diet is very important to its health because toucans are soft billed they primarily eat berries, eggs, and sometimes small animals. During the mating season they intake a large amount of small to medium insects for the protein that the insects give. Although they are often considered to be primarily fruit eaters, most species consume a wide variety of food including insects, snakes, frogs, and occasionally even small mammals. They are also predators when it comes to the nest of songbird nest, consuming both eggs and nestlings. Toucans don't necessarily need to drink any water because all the water and moisture that they need they receive by eating fruit. Caged toucans do not need the same variety in their diets as toucans in the wild, as long as they are fed fresh fruit, which constitutes 50 percent of their diet, then they will be fine. The toucans favorite fruit is papaya, but grapes, cantaloupe, apple, and bananas are ideal fruits that can be fed to toucans. |
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The toco toucan is a very noisy member of the jungle society, some of their sounds include loud barks, bugling calls, and harsh croaks. The bird lives in small communities equivalent to several families. It usually travels in small noisy flocks of half a dozen birds. The toco toucan flies a short distance by beating its wings several times and then glides. It is much more comfortable in the trees where he can just hop from one branch to the other. Although the bird's coloring has significant concealing value the toco toucan often makes its presence known by its noisy chatter. It has a loud call that can be heard a half mile away in the jungle. This bird is a very playful animal and enjoys a variety of games. One of its favorite games is a form of beak wrestling. During the display, both partners play a game which consists of tossing fruit to each other. After their ritual berry tossing, the birds mate and the female lays her eggs in the nest. Both parents actively take part in caring for the offspring. Although the specific function of the bill are poorly understood, it may play an important part in the courtship display as a defensive weapon, the bill serves more as a frightening instrument than as a fighting tool. Toucans nest high in tree holes but do not make their own holes. Instead, they find old woodpecker nest or natural holes formed by loss of tree branches. Two to four glossy white eggs are deposited in an unlined nest, where they are incubated in shifts by both parents. Incubation lasts from 16 days to six weeks or more in some species. The naked hatchlings have large pads on their heels and require about three weeks before their eyes open. The baby chick don't have the big bills when they are born, but the growth of their bills will be complete by the time they are ready to leave the nest.