Toco toucan Ramphastos toco
An iconic bird with an eye-catching beak!
This colourful bird is an expert at finding ripe fruit and can pick even the hardest-to-reach fruits by hanging upside down from a branch.
The toco toucan in a nutshell
- eats
- mainly fruit, but also insects, eggs
- inhabits
- South America
- excels in
- picking fruit
The toco toucan lives in the tropical regions of South America. Here, it flies from area to area in search of food and suitable nest sites.
Useful beak
The toco toucan is known for its huge beak, the largest of any bird in proportion to its body. This beak, which is 20 cm long, not only helps it eat fruit but also regulates its body temperature. When the bird needs to cool down, more blood flows through the beak, allowing it to release heat to the air.
Social and agile
Toco toucans live in groups of about six birds and are very dependent on the supply of ripe fruit. They migrate from area to area to find sufficient food. They eat fruit from as many as 100 different tree and plant species, with figs being their favourite. In fact, they are so dexterous that they can pick ripe fruit in the most difficult places, for instance by hanging upside down from a branch.
Friends and enemies
The toco toucan sometimes eats eggs of the endangered hyacinth macaw. But, the hyacinth macaw builds its nests in the maduvi tree, whose seeds are dispersed by the toco toucan. Thus, the hyacinth macaw has both advantages and disadvantages of the toco toucan.
The toco toucan has been adopted by Valk Exclusive Hotel Amsterdam Zuidas.