What Does toucan Mean
The toucan is a bird also known as diostedé or diotedé , which belongs to the family of ranfástidos . This animal, which lives in different regions of the American continent, is characterized by its large and colorful beak , which can have an extension similar to that of the body and is used both to collect fruits and to defend itself.
The elongated tail, short wings and a small head are other characteristics of the toucan, which has black feathers combined with orange and other shades on the chest and neck.
It is important to note that there are different species of toucan, such as the green toucan , the black-billed toucan , the toco toucan and the yellow toucan . Formerly it used to be distinguished between true toucans and arasaris, smaller in size and with another type of plumage and tail.
The size of toucans varies between twenty and sixty centimeters approximately. Its habitat is also varied and includes from tropical jungles to mountain forests located at high altitudes.
Toucans eat the eggs and young of other birds, small reptiles, insects, and fruits. They build their nests in the openings of the trees, where they lay up to four eggs that incubate just over forty days.
The advance of urban constructions, pollution and the destruction of jungle areas affect the habitat of toucans and, therefore, threaten their survival. The game is also a problem, although lower compared to the situation of other species.
Toucan toco
In the first place, the toco toucan represents one of the toucan species best known by the general public, and this can be seen in the fact that it is used in a multitude of logos, for example, in addition to having the combination of colors in the beak that most commonly appears in cartoons.
One of its main physical characteristics is its size, larger than the rest of the toucan species . Although the toco toucan is present in most zoos worldwide, its natural habitat is in South America.
Unlike other species, the toco toucan seems to prefer open areas with few trees, rather than dense forests. It is possible to find it mainly in the humid forests of countries like Bolivia, Brazil, Guyana, Paraguay and Argentina.
Its diet focuses on fruit, although it can also hunt reptiles and insects; on the other hand, if you think it's necessary, you can eat the eggs of other birds.
Regarding its appearance, the combination of the intense black color of its body with its white throat and a navy blue eye ring make it an animal of striking beauty. This without neglecting its large beak , yellow except at the tip, where it has a particular black spot.
The toco toucan is very light — it weighs just over 500 grams — although its beak is large, and this is because it is almost completely hollow . The average length of this animal is around 63 centimeters; its beak can measure up to 20 centimeters, which is correct to say that it represents a third of the total length of the body.
Its legs have four toes, two of which point backwards, while the rest point forward, to give it the ability to cling to branches very easily. Their life expectancy is between 10 and 15 years.
As with other species of animals, the toco toucan does not present sexual dimorphism , and this means that females and males are practically the same physically, without differences such as size or coloration.