The Toucan ( Toucan Sam) some info on the long billed bird

These are very messy birds to own. They have a very special diet of fruits amd berries. They can not crack nuts and seeds as other birds. They are a real clown of the bird world. They hop from branch to branch and can not climb as other parrots do. There bill is to long for them to grasp the cage and climb. This is a bird that needs a lot of experiance to own. They should never have there wings clipped because they need a very large cage( a flight is recomended) to fly from on branch or perch to the others.




The function of their enormous bill has puzzled scientists for a long time. What use is such an instrument? It is not a weapon, the toucan's usual enemies being much too strong to be fooled by even the heftiest bill. It is not a special tool for gathering food, since all toucans are fugivorous, and eat berries, seeds, and ripe fruit. A shorter, more solid bill would do just as well! Some ornithologists think it is simply a distinguishing feature, a visual threat to would-be competitors. But this hypothesis is not very convincing, since the bill of both the male and the female is exactly the same. So the mystery of the toucan's bill remains unsolved!

Toucans are very noisy members of the jungle society, and live in smallish communities, equivalent to several families. They are related to the woodpeckers, and appropriate holes in tree trunks in the same way. One might well ask how a bird like a toucan manages to sleep at the bottom of a tight-fitting hole. Quite simply, it bends double; the beak is twisted round and rests on its back, its tail is folded up on to its breast, its wings wrap round the rest of its body - and voila! A feathery ball!

During their nuptial display, both partners play a game which consists of throwing berries to each other or tossing them between them with their beaks. Toucans are much sought after by the natives of South America.



Laying: 2 to 4 white eggs
Incubation: 17 to 20 days
1 clutch a year

Development of young very slow. Bill reaches full size after several months. They will leave the nest at 8 to 9 weeks.

Length: 60 to 65 cm (24 to 26 inches)
Length of bill: 20 cm (8 inches)

Phylum
Vertebrata
Class
Aves
Order
Piciformes
Family
Ramphastidae
Genus and Species (of this bird)
Ramphastos Ariel


Toucans are one of the noisiest jungle birds, with a croak like a frog that can be heard for half a mile!

• The colorful beak of the Toucan is very light! It is made mostly of keratin (like your fingernails), supported with thin rods of bone.