Order: Piciformes
Family: Ramphastidae
With their huge and colorful bills, toco toucans are unmistakable and wonderful. Even small children recognize the Fruit Loops® bird; adults sometimes remember the Guinness bird, both advertising campaigns using stylized images of a toco toucan. Both campaigns are also responsible for the incorrect impression that toucans can talk. An occasional honking sound is the norm for tocos. For Swanson’s and keel-billed toucans, repetitious, higher-pitched sounds tend to be the norm. Males and females produce basically the same sound, but with a slightly off-set pitch to make a “duet”.
There are about 35 species in the family Ramphastidae. They are largely frugivorous and use their long bills to reach forward to pluck berries from thin, fragile twigs, showing a preference for small round berries such as Ficus. Although they are fruit-eaters, it is useful to remember that “fruit” in the forest can be very different than the commercially grown species we buy at the store. In fact, many of the fruits found in nature would never make it to our table – they are too dry, too hard and too fibrous.
Toucans may also eat small animals such as baby birds, small baby monkeys, amphibians, reptiles, etc. Toucans are famously susceptible to iron storage disease, the likelihood of which is thought to rise dramatically when they eat a “significant” amount of meat. Decades have thus been spent formulating low-iron foods for toucans, mynahs, birds-of-paradise and other "susceptible" species. There are practical limits, however, to just how low the manufacturing process can take the level of iron. And in practice, anything lower than 100 parts-per-million of iron (ppm) tends to be as good as one can get with our current level of technology. That level appears to minimize the onset of iron storage, with a host of other factors probably playing a role, arguably, just as in any other disease process. For example, stress from the following may make a bird somewhat more susceptible to iron storage disease: poor nutrition; poor climate; being continually nervous of people or an aggressive cage-mate; and old age (> approximately 12 years of age).
For its size, the bill is very lightweight, and can be used quite skilfully to catch anything from a small flying bird to a big moth. In cross section it looks like a mass of cobwebs, loosely molded together and covered with a hard protective skin of keratin. If back-lit with a flashlight or the sun, one can see all the way through it. In 2009, work published by Brock University suggested that the bill of a toucan could be used in thermoregulation: http://www.brocku.ca/research/research-profiles/tattersall. A toucan’s beak does indeed feel hot or cold to the touch depending on the time of day, and perhaps other factors such as health or activity level. Notwithstanding the heat theory, the bill must also be a significant “ornament” in the forest. It must stand out, or fluoresce, to other birds (since birds can see in the ultra violet); and it must be a significant weapon used to stand-off other toucans. Male birds have a longer beak than females. Moreover, some males have longer beaks than others, meaning that if they were “bill fencing” the longest beak could reach the face and eye of an opponent.
Family: Ramphastidae
With their huge and colorful bills, toco toucans are unmistakable and wonderful. Even small children recognize the Fruit Loops® bird; adults sometimes remember the Guinness bird, both advertising campaigns using stylized images of a toco toucan. Both campaigns are also responsible for the incorrect impression that toucans can talk. An occasional honking sound is the norm for tocos. For Swanson’s and keel-billed toucans, repetitious, higher-pitched sounds tend to be the norm. Males and females produce basically the same sound, but with a slightly off-set pitch to make a “duet”.
There are about 35 species in the family Ramphastidae. They are largely frugivorous and use their long bills to reach forward to pluck berries from thin, fragile twigs, showing a preference for small round berries such as Ficus. Although they are fruit-eaters, it is useful to remember that “fruit” in the forest can be very different than the commercially grown species we buy at the store. In fact, many of the fruits found in nature would never make it to our table – they are too dry, too hard and too fibrous.
Toucans may also eat small animals such as baby birds, small baby monkeys, amphibians, reptiles, etc. Toucans are famously susceptible to iron storage disease, the likelihood of which is thought to rise dramatically when they eat a “significant” amount of meat. Decades have thus been spent formulating low-iron foods for toucans, mynahs, birds-of-paradise and other "susceptible" species. There are practical limits, however, to just how low the manufacturing process can take the level of iron. And in practice, anything lower than 100 parts-per-million of iron (ppm) tends to be as good as one can get with our current level of technology. That level appears to minimize the onset of iron storage, with a host of other factors probably playing a role, arguably, just as in any other disease process. For example, stress from the following may make a bird somewhat more susceptible to iron storage disease: poor nutrition; poor climate; being continually nervous of people or an aggressive cage-mate; and old age (> approximately 12 years of age).
For its size, the bill is very lightweight, and can be used quite skilfully to catch anything from a small flying bird to a big moth. In cross section it looks like a mass of cobwebs, loosely molded together and covered with a hard protective skin of keratin. If back-lit with a flashlight or the sun, one can see all the way through it. In 2009, work published by Brock University suggested that the bill of a toucan could be used in thermoregulation: http://www.brocku.ca/research/research-profiles/tattersall. A toucan’s beak does indeed feel hot or cold to the touch depending on the time of day, and perhaps other factors such as health or activity level. Notwithstanding the heat theory, the bill must also be a significant “ornament” in the forest. It must stand out, or fluoresce, to other birds (since birds can see in the ultra violet); and it must be a significant weapon used to stand-off other toucans. Male birds have a longer beak than females. Moreover, some males have longer beaks than others, meaning that if they were “bill fencing” the longest beak could reach the face and eye of an opponent.