19 Fascinating Toucan Facts: You Need to Know

A toucan is a specific bird that includes 40 different species, ranging from seven inches to the largest two feet long, and also really long beaks.

Some popular species of toucans include the Keel-billed Toucan, Toco Toucan, Aracari, Channel-billed Toucan, White-throated Toucan, Green-billed Toucan, and Ramphastos Toucan. 

These birds are close relatives of woodpeckers and belong to the same order called Piciformes. So, in this article, we will now check out some really amazing facts about Toucans.

Fascinating Toucan Facts

👉 The Toco Toucan is the most famous species as the largest of all toucans

The Toco toucan is the largest bird of all toucans, and hence, this Toucan species is one of the most famous birds in the toucan family. In addition, this Toco toucan is found in semi-open habitats throughout a big part of eastern and central South America. 

Most toucans can stand the hot weather during the day, along with being able to tolerate cold temperatures during nighttime.

👉 Keel-billed toucans are social and playful.

The Keel-billed toucans usually have a range of lengths between 17 to 22 inches. Moreover, its colorful and long beaks have an average length of about 5-6 inches.

Usually, these toucans are social and playful birds that prefer to travel in groups.

Also, these toucans are the national bird of Belize, which is a country in Central America. These Keel-billed toucans can be seen throughout the forests and nest in holes in tree trunks in Belize.

👉 Toucans have sharp and strong claws.

Toucans use their strong, sharp claws, which enable them to hold tightly onto branches. Also, though these birds stay in trees for most of the day, these birds are not good flyers.

At the same time, they use their wings as a glider, which can take them short distances. Hence, these birds prefer to hop from tree to tree instead of flying.

👉 The oldest toucan lived about 26 years.

Though, on average, the life span of a toucan is almost twenty years, the oldest toucan bird ever recorded lived for almost 26 years. In addition, a toucan may live for almost 18 years in captivity or as a pet.

The emerald toucan is a small-sized bird that is a resident of Central America. In contrast, this emerald toucan is shy compared to most other toucan species.

However, these emerald toucans are popular pets because of their size, quiet nature, and adorable looks.

👉 Swainson’s toucan is related to the yellow-throated toucan.

Swainson’s toucan, also popular as a chestnut-mandible, is mainly a subspecies of the yellow-throated toucan. These yellow-throated toucans live in eastern Honduras.

Compared to the keel-billed ones, they have a lot of similarities in terms of body plumage; however, the bill is actually very different because it was divided diagonally in colors like bright yellow and maroon.

👉 Toucans are one of the noisiest birds.

Toucans usually make noise by combining their vocal sounds with clattering and tapping sounds from their beaks.

Moreover, toucans are very active during the day, and they produce various types of calls at that time.

In addition, these birds are much noisier during the late afternoon when most other birds are inactive.

👉 The beaks of toucans are very light.

Though the beaks of these birds seem very big and heavy, in reality, those beaks are lightweight.

These beaks are made of keratin, a specific kind of fibrous structural protein, and are very lightweight.

In addition, the big beaks of toucans help them remain cool during hot weather and stay warm during cold temperatures.

Thus, according to many researchers, these birds can cool and heat their beaks. Also, these beaks can even change their temperatures by almost 10 degrees Celsius in just several minutes.

👉 The length of the beaks and tongues of toucans

The beaks of these birds are almost 19 centimeters long. When toucans sleep, they usually put their beaks under their feather to keep them warm.

Moreover, the tongue of this bird species is around the same length as its beak, as, on average, the tongue of a toucan is almost 15 centimeters long.

Thus, these birds use their long tongue to catch various insects efficiently for their meals.

👉 Male toucans’ voice is lower than female ones.

Toucans usually create growling, croaking, and barking sounds, whereas mountain toucans, a specific bird species in the family Ramphastidae, can create braying sounds similar to donkeys.

Also, the male toucans’ voice is much lower than that of the female ones.

👉 Toucans don’t have long beaks from birth.

Baby toucans are very adorable and cute and are not born with long beaks. The beak of a baby toucan is mainly proportional to the size of its body, and it only grows in length as it matures.

Aside from this, another interesting fact about toucans is that toucans don’t have feathers when they are born, and also, these birds are born blind.

The young remain in their nest for several weeks until their body develops, and their parents feed and protect them until they can hunt independently.

👉 Toucans prefer to stay in high places.

Most toucans prefer to stay in high places like high treetops. In this way, they can stay away from predators.

Hence, these birds spend most of their lives on the high treetops and drink rainwater from treetop plants, known as bromeliads. They can even bathe by shaking the wet leaves of those trees.

👉 Toucans usually lay about five eggs in their nests

Toucans usually lay 2 to 5 eggs in their nests. Moreover, when their eggs hatch finally, the young come out naked without their down feathers.

These down feathers are a layer of fine feathers that can be seen under the tougher exterior of feathers. Most importantly, toucan mate only once a year.

Also, the breeding season of these unique birds takes place during spring. Moreover, the eggs of these birds hatch between sixteen to twenty days.

👉 Sometimes, these birds fight to assert dominance.

In some situations, toucans fight using their long beaks. Particularly, toucans behave like this to assert hierarchies or dominance to get a superior position in their group.

Also, the long beaks of these birds have a serrated edge, which helps them grip and tear apart their food efficiently.

Though male and female toucans look very similar, the males still have slightly larger beaks than females.

👉 Toucans love to eat the eggs of other bird species

Toucans in the wild constantly look for the nest of some other bird species. For this reason, they will try to sneak into the nests of other birds and then eat the eggs in the nest and small birds, if there are any.

Also, toucans prefer to eat fruits. Some favorite fruits of these birds are banana, mango, apple, orange, melon, guava, berries, and even grapes.

In addition to this, these fascinating birds prefer to eat caterpillars, termites, and even spiders as their “insect meal.”

👉 Toucans have both air and land predators.

The land predators of these colorful birds are jaguars and tigers. At the same time, toucans are hunted by other flying animals, such as eagles and hawks.

These unique birds can communicate to warn and help each other to escape. On the other hand, these birds even use their loud voices to scare away their predators.

Also, the colorful brilliance of these birds is perfect as camouflage for the rainforest because this allows them to hide within the South American plants.

👉 The smallest toucan is known as Lettered Aracari.

The Lettered Aracari is famous as the smallest toucan. This bird is only 11 inches tall and has a weight of under 5 ounces.

These toucans can be found in Bolivia and Brazil. Also, these smallest toucans can be seen mostly in degraded former forests, swamps, and lowland forests.

On the other hand, though toucans are not endangered animals, the yellow-browed toucanet can still be considered a toucan species that are classified as endangered.

This yellow-browned toucanet is known as a rare species of toucan that live in Northern Peru.

👉 A constellation is named after the toucan.

There is a beautiful constellation that is named after toucans. The constellation called Tucana has most of the small Magellanic cloud within it.

Also, when the Europeans first arrived in America, the toucan was one of the first birds they saw.

👉 Dora the Explorer and his “toucan friend.”

The world-famous cartoon Dora the Explorer has a “toucan friend” in its story, and it is called Senor Toucan.

This toucan is very helpful, guiding Dora and assisting her during various explorations. Moreover, this toucan only speaks Spanish, so Dora the Explorer needs to translate it for the viewers.

👉 Toucans are resident breeders.

Toucans do not migrate because they prefer to stay mostly in the place where they are used to. They only change the place if food and resources are scarce. 

The Kellogg breakfast cereal has been using the toucan mascot since 1963. Manuel | R created this mascot.

Vega and the company named it Toucan Sam. This Toucan Sam can smell the Froot Loops from any place. 

Thus, toucans are really colorful and fascinating birds, native to America, that attract many bird lovers because of their unique characteristics and behavior.

At the end of this article, we learned about 19 really amazing facts about this interesting bird of America called the toucan.

These facts offer us a clear picture of these colorful birds of our ecosystem. If you want to collect some more information, you may visit our website.