♦ The enormous bright orange beak may look pretty scary, but the truth is it’s made up of the protein keratin and has many air pockets making it pretty weak. Shhhh, don’t tell the other animals that though, the beak puts up a pretty good show!

♦ Toucans actually regulate blood through their giant beak.  They can use the blood flow to regulate their body temperature. The more blood that flows the more heat that they release, when they sleep at night they tuck their beaks into their feathers to help keep them warm.

♦ They use their beak to grab and peel fruit, which is their top source of food. The beak also houses a long flat tongue that is about the same length as the beak. This tongue helps them catch small reptiles, frogs, insects and even some small bird eggs.

♦ The toco toucan is not exactly built for flying. They spend most of their time in trees and hop from branch to branch in search of food. If they have to fly, they flap their wings vigorously and mainly glide, only being able to travel short distances.

♦ Both parents sit on a the eggs to incubate them. They lay 2-4 eggs a year and mom and dad toucan sit on them for 16-20 days. Both parents care for the young after the toucan babies hatch.

♦ Toucan babies don’t have large beaks. They develop over time as the toucan grows.

♦ Toucans typically live in groups in a single hallow, this is where they lay their eggs.

♦ The toucan has 4 large claws, 2 in the front and 2 in the back, this allows them to cling onto branches.

♦ Toucans are very popular as pets, many are captured for the demand to have them as pets.

♦ There are lot’s of toucans in the media. One of the most famous is Toucan Sam whom is the mascot for a popular cereal called fruit loops.

♦ Indigenous people look at the toucan more as a sacred subject. It is believed that the toucan is a conduit between the world of the spirits and the world of the living.

♦ There are over 40 species of toucans found in Southern American rain forests.

♦ When born, toucans are very tiny. They do not reach full size for many months. During this period mom and dad toucan stick around and protect the baby from predators.

♦ They are the only known snake to actually build a nest for their eggs. Once the eggs are laid by the mother, she very aggressively guards them.

♦ Toucans have several predators in the rain forests. These include large cats like the jaguar, humans, large birds of preys. Weasels, snakes and rats are predators, but of their eggs not the birds themselves.