Toco Toucan
- Anne Longman
- Apr 7
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 17
Week of 04.07.25
The largest of toucans, these bright and beautiful birds are native to regions of South America. Standing about 20 inches tall, toco toucans are instantly recognizable by their bright orange beaks and black bodies. Their eyes look blue, but are actually black! The ring around their eye is a piece of blue skin. Toco toucans live up to about 20 years in the wild, longer than in captivity. It is believed that this is due to a variety of reasons, including but not limited to their desire to be social with other toucans. In nature, they will flock in groups of 20 or more, moving around an area together. A toucan’s natural habitat is the tropical rainforest or surrounding savanna.
Did you know: a toucan’s beak takes up 1/3 of it’s body size, but only 1/20th of its body mass!
Toucans’ large beaks serve multiple functions. The first and most apparent is for feeding. Toucans can crack open nuts and fruits easily with a powerful bite. They will also go after small lizards and fish, which stand little chance against the serrated edges of a toucan’s beak. The toucan will also use its beak for defense. Toucans are not able to efficiently defend themselves while flying, so instead will perch and protect themselves on the defense from a stationary position. There is evidence that suggests toucans can also use their beaks for thermoregulation by controlling their blood flow into it. You can read more about that concept here.
If you’re a fan of fruit loops, you’ll recognize Toucan Sam, the cereal’s mascot since 1963. He is loosely based on the toco toucan, with cartoonish influences, like a rainbow striped beak. His early 2000s catchphrases included “follow your nose” and “it always nose (knows)” in reference to the powerful sweet smell of fruit loops. Well, the team here at Bird of the Week (just me doing mediocre research on an iPad) gets to the bottom of cereal based conspiracy theories, and debunks their myths for our captive audience. Toucan Sam’s “nose” that he so famously uses to sniff out fruit looks is actually a beak. While toucans do have nares near their eyes, there is no evidence that they have a powerful sense of smell. Most birds have no sense of smell at all. Big cereal is lying to you.
Toco toucans are one of many colorful birds to reside in South America. While their coloration would make them prey in most North American forests, their bright colors help them blend into their natural habitat. Baby toco toucans don’t hatch with bright colors, but instead develop them over time. New babies have orange beaks that eventually mature into the full spectrum of colors seen on adult toucans.
You can learn more about the wild world of toco toucans from Cornell Lab by visiting this link. A reminder that you can submit your own bird suggestions on the "suggest a bird" page, and...
Have a great week!
----------------------------------------------------------
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=7lCe3DiQrcjzy8LA&v=FuggaWEBh6E&feature=youtu.be https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/biome/biorainforest.php#:~:text=The%20tropical%20rainforest%20is%20a,about%20250%20ft)%20or%20more.
Art by Anne Longman
this is a test comment!