Photo: (c) Diogo Luiz, some rights reserved (CC BY) — via iNaturalist
Toco Toucan
Ramphastos toco
Flits through the canopy plucking fruit with its huge bill.
About the Toco Toucan
The toco toucan carries the largest bill relative to body size of any bird, and for a long time nobody could say why. It is not a heavy tool — the interior is a honeycomb of bone struts under a keratin shell, so it weighs very little. The current explanation is that it works as a thermal radiator, dumping heat through a dense blood supply that the bird can adjust.
How it lives
Tocos live in more open country than most toucans — woodland edges, savanna with palm stands, gallery forest — across central South America. The bill lets them reach fruit at the ends of branches too thin to take their weight, and they toss food back with a flick of the head. They are not pure frugivores; they take eggs, nestlings, insects and lizards when the chance comes. They nest in tree cavities and sleep in them too, folding the tail forward over the back to fit.
Where it lives
Flits through the canopy plucking fruit with its huge bill. Its main habitat is the Amazon Rainforest, where the climate is warm and extremely humid with heavy rainfall all year round.
Notable facts
- Its giant beak helps it stay cool by releasing heat.
- The bill looks heavy but is light and hollow.
- It sleeps with its beak tucked under its tail feathers.
Conservation
IUCN Red List status: Least concern. Assessed as not currently at risk of extinction in the wild.
The toco toucan is listed as of least concern and holds a very large range. Trapping for the cage-bird trade is the main direct pressure, along with clearance of the gallery forests and palm stands it nests in. Because it needs large trees with cavities, it disappears from areas that keep their canopy but lose their old growth.
Read the Wikipedia article →
