Toucans are renown for their large colorful bills.
Found in Central and South America, the toucans come in different sizes and colors.
With around 40 different species within the toucan family, stay with us as we are looking
at the 10 of the most beautiful toucans in the world.
Number 10.
The toco toucan, also known as the common toucan or giant toucan, is the largest and
probably the best known species in the toucan family.
It is found in semi-open habitats throughout a large part of central and eastern South
America.
The bill is the largest relative to body size of all birds providing 30 to 50% of its body
surface area.
Diverse functions of the bill have been suggested, including a sexual ornament, aid in peeling
fruit, intimidating other birds and as a visual warning.
Research has shown that one function of the bill is as a surface area for heat exchange.
The bill has the ability to modify blood flow and so regulate heat distribution in the bird,
allowing it to be used as a thermal radiator.
Because it prefers open habitats, the toco toucan is likely to benefit from the widespread
deforestation in tropical South America, and therefore it is considered to be of Least
Concern by BirdLife International.
Number 9.
The many-banded aracari is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela, where
its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
Foraging in same species flocks, they are primarily frugivorous, with opportunistic
preying on insects, small birds and bird eggs, and lizards.
They are likely to regurgitate seeds as opposed to digesting/excreting them to avoid ballast.
These toucans play a role in seed dispersal of fruits with a dispersion range of hundreds
of meters.
Number 8.
The plate-billed mountain toucan is native to the west slope of Ecuador and extreme southern
Colombia, where it lives in the high-altitude humid montane forests of the Andes.
This beautiful bird is the flagship bird of the La Planada Nature Reserve in Colombia,
and also known as the laminated hill-toucan, laminated mountain-toucan, and plain-billed
mountain-toucan.
This bird is the most vocal of the mountain toucans.
The bird utters rattles and clicks loud enough to be heard from over a kilometer away.
While it is still a fairly common species, the Plate-billed mountain toucan is considered
Near Threatened by the IUCN and is in decline because of habitat being lost to deforestation.
Number 7.
The crimson-rumped toucanet is found in humid Andean forests in Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela.
Its plumage is overall green (often faintly tinged blue), except for a maroon-red rump
and tail-tip.
With the size of about 35 cm (14 in) long and weighs from 141–232 grams (5–8.2 oz.),
this toucan is also known by other names including chestnut-billed emerald-toucanet, crimson-rumped
aracari and red-rumped green-toucanet.
Number 6.
The blue-throated toucanet is a near-passerine bird living in the mountain forests of Costa
Rica, Panama and far northwestern Colombia.
While considered a species based primarily on morphology, some authorities continue to
consider it a subspecies of the emerald toucanet.
Blue-throated toucanets are altricial.
They do not open their eyes until they are around 25 days old, and they are completely
covered in feathers by around 35 days.
Most immature blue-throated toucanets do not leave their nest until they have reached around
45 days old.
When they leave their nest, their bills are alike to their parents in colour and shape,
but are not full-grown yet.
Number 5.
The chestnut-eared aracari is native to central and south-eastern South America.
It is a larger, more colorful bird than the black-necked aracari, which it otherwise resembles.
Like other aracaris, its diet mainly consists of fruit taken from trees in the area, sometimes
retrieved by hanging upside-down.
The chestnut-eared aracari may also include flower nectar, insects, and nuts in its diet
as well, other than preying on the nests of other bird
species, eating the eggs and baby birds.
Number 4.
The chestnut-mandibled toucan or Swainson's toucan breeds from eastern Honduras to northern
Colombia to western Ecuador.
Chestnut-mandibled toucans are sometimes kept as pets.
They are the most readily available 'large toucan' species available in aviculture in
the USA; however they are considered to be noisy, when compared to other toucans.
Number 3.
The ivory-billed aracari is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
The aracaris are unusual for toucans in that they roost socially throughout the year, up
to five adults and fledged young of this species sleeping in the same hole with their tails
folded over their backs.
Like most toucans, this species is primarily an arboreal fruit-eater, but will also take
insects, lizards, eggs, and other small prey.
Number 2.
The channel-billed toucan is found in Trinidad and in tropical South America as far south
as southern Brazil and central Bolivia.
These toucans come in three subspecies that vary in plummage and coloration.
All these subspecies were previously considered separate species, but all of them, along with
the citron-throated toucan, will interbreed freely wherever they meet.
Wherever the distributions of the subspecies meet, individuals with features that are intermediate
are common due to hybridization.
Some of these intermediate populations have sometimes been awarded subspecies status.
Number 1.
The keel-billed toucan, also known as sulfur-breasted toucan or rainbow-billed toucan, is the national
bird of Belize.
The species is found in tropical jungles from southern Mexico to Colombia.
Their large and colorful bill averages around one-third of its length.
While the bill seems large and cumbersome, it is in fact a spongy, hollow bone covered
in keratin, a very light and hard protein.
The bill, surprisingly dexterous, allows this toucan to utilize a large variety of fruit
that might not otherwise be reached.
When eating the fruit, it uses its bill to dissect the fruit, and then tosses its head back to swallow the fruit whole.