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| Family
Ramphastidae |
Toucan
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| Diet
& Food |
Toucans are primarily fruit-eaters,
preferring the darkest, so ripest,
fruit.
Their long bill allows them to perch on
heavier, stable branches and
reach
a distance for hanging fruits. They snip the
fruit off, hold it at the
tip
of the bill, and then, with a forward flip
of the head, toss the fruit
into
the air and into their throats.
Small fruit seeds pass unharmed through
toucan digestive tracts and
large
seeds are regurgitated, also unharmed. Thus,
these frugivores aid in
the
dispersal of tree seeds, and, together with
other fruit-eaters, are
responsible
for the positions of some forest trees.
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| Breeding
and Mating |
Breeding is during the dry season. Toucans
nest (and some sleep) in
tree
cavities, either natural ones or those
hollowed out by woodpeckers, in
either
live or dead trees. Nests can be any height
above the ground, 100 ft or
more.
Both sexes incubate and feed the 2 to 4
young. Toucans are apparently
monogamous.
Some species, such as the Collared Aracari,
seem to breed
cooperatively;
that is, other family members, in addition
to the mother and father,
help
raise the young in a single nest.
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| Education |
Literature
&
eBooks
Children's Classic Literature by Twain,
Bronte, Fitzgerald, Hawthorne,
Thoreau and more.
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Rainforest Toucans
No
other word fits them - toucans are spectacular
animals. Their shape,
brilliant
coloring, and tropical quintessence make them one of
the most popular
"poster
animals" for the tropical forests of the Americas
and one most visitors
want
to see. It's hardly surprising, therefore, that the
logos of several
conservation
organizations and tour companies feature toucans.
The toucan family,
Ramphastidae,
is classified with the woodpeckers, and contains
about 40 species - the
toucans
and the usually smaller toucanets and aracaris
(AH-rah-SAH-reez); all
are
restricted to the American tropics. Six species
occur in Costa Rica.
The first sighting of toucans in the wild is always
exhilarating - the
large
size of the bird, the bright colors, the enormous,
almost cartoonish
bill.
Toucans are usually first noticed flying from
treetop to treetop in
small
groups. The bird's most distinguishing feature - its
colorful,
disproportionately
large bill - is actually light, mostly hollow, and
used for cutting
down
and manipulating the diet staple, tree fruit.
§ continued below
...
Populations and Habitat
Toucans
are gregarious forest birds, usually observed in
flocks of 3 to 12.
They
follow each other in strings from one tree to
another, usually staying
in
the high canopy (a toucan only occasionally flies
down to feed at
shrubs,
or to pluck a snake or a lizard from the forest
floor). The birds are
playful,
grasping each other's bills in apparent contests,
and tossing fruit to
each
other.
Sometimes individual fruit trees are defended by a
mated toucan pair
from
other toucans or from other frugivorous birds -
defended by threat
displays
and even, against other toucans, by bill clashes. Chestnut
Mandibled
toucans, the largest in Costa Rica, may
"parasitize" the
slightly smaller Keel-Billed Toucan. The
larger bird follows
the smaller, then chases the smaller away after it
succeeds at locating
a fruit-filled tree.
Toucans
are common residents in the various regions in which
they occur, except
where
there is extensive deforestation. None of the family
are currently
threatened
in Costa Rica. Some toucans, such as the Chestnut
Mandibled, have
suffered
substantial population declines in heavily
deforested areas of Central
America,
for instance, in some regions of Panama. §
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Summary of Interesting Facts:
What do toucans eat?
Toucans are frugivores, so they eat mostly fruits
and nuts. However,
they occasionally snack on insects and small
lizards, too.
What are the predators of toucans?
Snakes and lizards often raid bird nests. Birds of
prey, such as eagles
and
hawks, are predators of many species of birds.
Felines, such as jaguars
and
margays, will also eat a toucan.
How do toucans protect or defend themselves?
They nest and sleep in hollow tree holes, which
protects them from
hunters
and stalkers. Toucans in a group will often set up
a raucous chorus of
noise
whenever a predator is near the flock.
In what rainforest layer do toucans live?
Toucans live in the canopy layer, high in the
trees, where they can
build
nests and protect their young from understory and
forest floor
predators.
What is the toucans contribution to its
ecosystem?
Toucans spread fruit seeds ! They eat the fruit,
and the seeds pass
through
their stomachs unharmed. In other words, many
forest trees do not grow
under
a parent tree, but grow where birds drop the
seeds.
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