Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Toco tou­cans (Ram­phastos toco) thrive over a wide range of habi­tats and lo­ca­tions through­out much of the Neotrop­i­cal re­gion. They are na­tive to the coun­tries of Ar­gentina, Peru, French Guiana, Bo­livia, Paraguay, Suri­name, and Brazil. Stud­ies have shown a cor­re­la­tion be­tween the wide range of R. toco and the avail­abil­ity of fleshy fruits, which make up the ma­jor­ity of the tou­can's diet. (BirdLife In­ter­na­tional, 2009; Ra­gusa-Netto, 2006; Ra­gusa-Netto, 2008)

• Biogeographic Regions
• neotropical
  • native

Habi­tat

Toco tou­cans are most com­monly found in dry semi-open areas, which in­clude re­gions such as wood­land, sa­vanna, plan­ta­tions, and other re­gions that con­sist of scat­tered trees. In Brazil, toco tou­cans have been found in abun­dance in the "cer­rado." Brazil's cer­rado con­sists of sa­vanna, semi­de­cid­i­ous, and gallery forests sur­round­ing river cor­ri­dors. They are canopy fru­gi­vores that rely heav­ily on the avail­abil­ity of sea­sonal fruit­ing plants. Toco tou­cans there­fore move from one habi­tat and re­gion to the next in order to sat­isfy their di­etary needs. This species is typ­i­cally found at low­land el­e­va­tions. How­ever they have been sighted in el­e­va­tions up to 1750 m around the Andes moun­tain range of South Amer­ica. (Ab­solute As­tron­omy Con­trib­u­tors, 2009; Ra­gusa-Netto, 2006)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland
• forest
• scrub forest

• Other Habitat Features
• riparian

• Range elevation

  1750 (high) m

  5741.47 (high) ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Toco tou­cans are rec­og­nized as the largest species in the tou­can fam­ily and flaunt the biggest beak in re­gard to body size of all birds. This large yel­low-or­ange col­ored beak with a dis­tinct black mark­ing at the tip of the bill is the most no­tice­able fea­ture of R. toco. It ac­counts for one-twen­ti­eth of the total mass of the tou­can, while also con­tribut­ing to one-third of the bird's total length. Toco tou­cans weigh be­tween 592 and 760 g, and av­er­age 61 cm in length. This species has what ap­pears to be a blue iris, but is in fact a thin layer of skin that sur­rounds the eye. The blue cir­cle is en­com­passed by an ad­di­tional ring of or­ange skin that adds to the col­or­ful phys­i­cal ap­pear­ance of toco tou­cans. Its basal meta­bolic rate is es­ti­mated at 8.72 cubed cm of oxy­gen per hour. Sex­ual di­mor­phism is pre­sent in this species of tou­can. Mea­sure­ments and ob­ser­va­tions re­veal phys­i­cal dif­fer­ences be­tween males and fe­males. Adult male toco tou­cans are typ­i­cally larger than adult fe­males. Ju­ve­niles are eas­ily dif­fer­en­ti­ated from the adults due to the young's duller col­ors and stub­bier bill. (Ab­solute As­tron­omy Con­trib­u­tors, 2009; Cas­tro, et al., 2003; McNab, 2009; Seki, et al., 2005; Tat­ter­sall, et al., 2009; Zo­o­log­i­cal So­ci­ety of San Diego, 2010)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger

• Range mass

  592 to 760 g

  20.86 to 26.78 oz

• Average length

  61 cm

  24.02 in

• Average basal metabolic rate

  8.72 cm3.O2/g/hr

Re­pro­duc­tion

The large col­or­ful bills of toco tou­cans are often thought to be used in mate choice, but there are no spe­cific stud­ies that lead to this con­clu­sion. How­ever, it is known that this species uses its bill to gather fruit that is used in the bird's mat­ing rit­ual. This courtship rit­ual con­sists of ei­ther the male or fe­male ini­ti­at­ing a fruit toss with its po­ten­tial mate. After this rit­ual has been car­ried out, the male mates with the fe­male. (Na­tional Ge­o­graphic Con­trib­u­tors, 2010)

• Mating System
• monogamous

The breed­ing sea­son for toco tou­cans oc­curs in the spring. Tree cav­i­ties are the typ­i­cal nest­ing site where a sin­gle clutch of 2 to 4 eggs are laid by the fe­male. Toco tou­cans breed yearly and have al­tri­cial young. The hatch­lings are bare-skinned, close-eyed, and help­less until ap­prox­i­mately 6 to 8 weeks later. At this time, the young begin to de­velop their char­ac­ter­is­tic beak and will soon fledge. Toco tou­cans be­come sex­u­ally ma­ture in 3 to 4 years. (Na­tional Ge­o­graphic Con­trib­u­tors, 2010; Zo­o­log­i­cal So­ci­ety of San Diego, 2010)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  Toco toucans breed once yearly.

• Breeding season

  The breeding season occurs in the spring.

• Range eggs per season

  2 to 4

• Range time to hatching

  15 to 18 days

• Range fledging age

  6 to 8 weeks

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  3 to 4 years

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  3 to 4 years

Both par­ents take turns in­cu­bat­ing the eggs in the small cav­ity of a tree where the nest is sit­u­ated. Nests of this species were found to be lined with re­gur­gi­tated man­duvi seeds from the man­duvi tree (Ster­cu­lia apetala), sug­gest­ing that par­ents may pro­vi­sion nestlings with this fruit. The young re­main in the nest for about 6 to 8 weeks. (Na­tional Ge­o­graphic Con­trib­u­tors, 2010; Pizo, et al., 2008; Zo­o­log­i­cal So­ci­ety of San Diego, 2010)

• Parental Investment
• altricial
• male parental care
• female parental care
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

A lifes­pan of 20 years is typ­i­cally seen in wild toco tou­cans with a max­i­mum recorded lifes­pan of 26 years. In cap­tiv­ity, this species of tou­can often has a shorter lifes­pan of ap­prox­i­mately 18 years. Toco tou­cans that have been raised in cap­tiv­ity often ex­pe­ri­ence iron-stor­age dis­ease, which is some­times re­ferred to as he­mochro­mato­sis. This dis­ease can lead to an un­com­fort­able life of the tou­can in­volv­ing ema­ci­a­tion, dys­p­nea, and feather pick­ing and may even­tu­ally lead to the death of the bird. Since the diet of toco tou­cans is pri­mar­ily fruits, which in­volves a low in­take of iron, they have seemed to de­velop very iron-ab­sorbent or­gans. When a toxic amount of iron builds-up within the liver of the bird due to the high-iron diet that many of these cap­tive tou­cans are fed, the iron-stor­age dis­ease oc­curs. (Ab­solute As­tron­omy Con­trib­u­tors, 2009; Drews, et al., 2004; Na­tional Ge­o­graphic Con­trib­u­tors, 2010)

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  26 years

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  20 years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  18 years

Be­hav­ior

Toco tou­cans are very so­cial birds and live in flocks of ap­prox­i­mately six mem­bers. This species is very mo­bile due to the con­stant change of avail­able fruits in re­gions of their ge­o­graphic range. Al­though the bright col­ors of their beak suc­cess­fully cam­ou­flage this species in the for­est's canopy, their noisy vo­cal­iza­tions seem to de­feat the pur­pose of their cam­ou­flage. (Na­tional Ge­o­graphic Con­trib­u­tors, 2010; Ra­gusa-Netto, 2006)

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal
• flies
• diurnal
• motile
• nomadic
• social

Home Range

Toco tou­cans have a very wide home range due to their fru­giv­o­rous diet and the avail­abil­ity and abun­dance of sea­sonal fruits. Exact ter­ri­tory size is un­known. (Ra­gusa-Netto, 2006)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Toco tou­cans are very loud com­mu­ni­ca­tors with var­i­ous means of sound pro­duc­tion. Their reper­toire con­sists of deep, course croak­ing that is re­peated on a con­sis­tent basis. A rat­tling call is also a com­mon form of con­ver­sa­tion in this species. Be­sides vocal com­mu­ni­ca­tion, they use bill-clack­ing as a form of au­di­tory com­mu­ni­ca­tion. Like all birds, toco tou­cans per­ceive their en­vi­ron­ment through vi­sual, au­di­tory, tac­tile, and chem­i­cal stim­uli. (Ab­solute As­tron­omy Con­trib­u­tors, 2009)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Toco tou­cans are canopy fru­gi­vores whose diet is com­posed mainly of fruits, but they are con­sid­ered to be an op­por­tunis­tic feeder. They also oc­ca­sion­ally feed on var­i­ous types of in­sects and eggs of other birds, in­clud­ing those of en­dan­gered hy­acinth macaws (An­odor­hynchus hy­acinthi­nus). Their broad ge­o­graph­i­cal range of habi­tats is due in part to their for­ag­ing be­hav­ior and their diet of briefly-avail­able fruits. The food sources in­clude the fruits from trees such as geni­papo (Genipa amer­i­cana), agar­rapolo (Ficus luschnathi­ana), ambay pump­wood (Ce­cropia pachys­tachya).

The large bills of toco tou­cans are the main for­ag­ing tool that al­lows the birds to reach into tree holes and to grasp fruits from sur­round­ing branches. Toco tou­cans are unique in that they does not use their tongue in the process of swal­low­ing food. In­stead, they place a piece of fruit be­tween the very end of their beak and lean their head back at an ap­prox­i­mately 180 de­gree angle. This causes the food item to pro­ject di­rectly into the phar­ynx. (Baus­sart, 2007; Pizo, et al., 2008; Ra­gusa-Netto, 2008; Seki, et al., 2005)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • frugivore

• Animal Foods
• amphibians
• reptiles
• eggs
• insects

• Plant Foods
• seeds, grains, and nuts
• fruit

Pre­da­tion

Al­though the col­or­ful char­ac­ter­is­tics of toco tou­cans pro­vide ad­e­quate cam­ou­flage in the for­est canopy, com­mon preda­tors in­clude jaguars (Pan­thera onca), snakes (order Ser­pentes), coatis (Nasua and Na­suella species), and ea­gles (Ac­cip­itri­dae). (Na­tional Ge­o­graphic Con­trib­u­tors, 2010; New World En­cy­clo­pe­dia Con­trib­u­tors, 2008; Pizo, et al., 2008)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

• Known Predators

  • Jaguars (Panthera onca)
  • Snakes (order Serpentes)
  • Coatis (Nasua and Nasuella species)
  • Eagles (Accipitridae)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Even though toco tou­cans prey on the eggs of en­dan­gered hy­acinth macaws (An­odor­hynchus hy­acinthi­nus), these macaws are in fact in­di­rectly de­pen­dent on the tou­cans. Since hy­acinth macaws al­most al­ways nest in the hol­lows of the man­duvi tree and the man­duvi tree de­pends upon the seed dis­per­sal ser­vices pro­vided by toco tou­cans, hy­acinth macaws are in­di­rectly de­pen­dent on this species of tou­can. (Pizo, et al., 2008)

• Ecosystem Impact
• disperses seeds

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Be­cause of the nat­ural at­trac­tion to the col­or­ful and odd bills of toco tou­cans, tour guides in many South Amer­i­can coun­tries pro­vide trips to see them in their nat­ural habi­tat. Also, many zoos at­tempt to pre­serve the nat­ural beauty of this bird in a safe and peo­ple-friendly en­vi­ron­ment. Toco tou­cans are also found in the pet trade. (Ab­solute As­tron­omy Con­trib­u­tors, 2009; Tat­ter­sall, et al., 2009)

• Positive Impacts
• pet trade
• ecotourism

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects of toco tou­cans on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Toco tou­cans are con­sid­ered by the IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Species to be of "least con­cern." This is due to the broad range and fairly com­mon sta­tus of this species in its des­ig­nated habi­tats and bio­geo­graphic range. They are listed under ap­pen­dix II of CITES which reg­u­lates the trade of this species. (BirdLife In­ter­na­tional, 2009; UNEP-WCMC, 2009)

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• CITES

  Appendix II

Con­trib­u­tors

Shan­non Behmke (au­thor), Florida State Uni­ver­sity, Emily DuVal (ed­i­tor), Florida State Uni­ver­sity.

Ref­er­ences

Ab­solute As­tron­omy Con­trib­u­tors, 2009. "Toco Tou­can" (On-line). Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 12, 2010 at http://​www.​absoluteastronomy.​com/​topics/​Toco_​Toucan.

Baus­sart, S. 2007. Feed­ing mech­a­nism in fruit-eat­ing bird tou­can, Ram­phastos toco. Com­par­a­tive Bio­chemisty and Phys­i­ol­ogy, 146: S107.

Bird Par­adise, World's Largest Bird­store, 2009. "Tou­cans/Tou­canets" (On-line). Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 11, 2010 at http://​bird-paradise.​biz/​Toucan_​ets.​htm.

BirdLife In­ter­na­tional, 2009. "IUCN red list of threat­ened species" (On-line). Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 11, 2010 at http://​www.​iucnredlist.​org/​apps/​redlist/​details/​141926/​0.

Cas­tro, M., S. Recco-Pi­mentel, G. Rocha. 2003. Sex­ual di­mor­phism in Ram­phastos toco and Ram­phos­tos di­col­orus (Pi­ci­formes, Aves). Re­vista de Bi­olo­gia Trop­i­cal, 51: 241-245.

Drews, A., S. Re­drobe, J. Pat­ter­son-Kane. 2004. Suc­cess­ful re­duc­tion of he­pa­to­cel­lu­lar he­mo­siderin con­tent by di­etary mod­i­fi­ca­tion in toco tou­cans (Ram­phastos toco) with iron-stor­age dis­ease. Jour­nal of Avian Med­i­cine and Surgery, 18: 101-105.

McNab, B. 2009. Eco­log­i­cal fac­tors af­fect the level and scal­ing of avian BMR. Com­par­a­tive Bio­chemisty and Phys­i­ol­ogy, 152: 22-45.

Na­tional Ge­o­graphic Con­trib­u­tors, 2010. "Ram­phastos toco" (On-line). Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 11, 2010 at http://​animals.​nationalgeographic.​com/​animals/​birds/​toucan.​html.

New World En­cy­clo­pe­dia Con­trib­u­tors, 2008. "Tou­can" (On-line). Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 12, 2010 at http://​www.​newworldencyclopedia.​org/​entry/​Toucan.

Pizo, M., C. Do­natti, N. Guedes, M. Galetti. 2008. Con­ser­va­tion puz­zle: En­dan­gered hy­acinth macaw depeds on its nest preda­tor for re­pro­duc­tion. Bi­o­log­i­cal Coser­va­tion, 141: 792-796.

Ra­gusa-Netto, J. 2006. Abun­dance and fru­givory of the toco tou­can (Ram­phastos toco) in a gallery forset in Brazil's South­ern Pan­tanal. Brazil­ian Jour­nal of Bi­ol­ogy, 66: 133-142.

Ra­gusa-Netto, J. 2008. Toco tou­can feed­ing ecol­ogy and local abun­dance in a habi­tat mo­saic in the Brazil­ian cer­rado. Or­nitholo­gia Neotrop­i­cal, 19: 345-359.

Seki, Y., M. Schnei­der, M. Mey­ers. 2005. Struc­ture and me­chan­i­cal be­hav­ior of a tou­can beak. Acta Ma­te­ri­alia, 53: 5281-5296.

Tat­ter­sall, G., D. An­drade, A. Abe. 2009. Heat ex­change from the tou­can bill re­veals a con­trol­lable cas­cu­lar ther­mal ra­di­a­tor. Sci­ence, 325: 468-470.

UNEP-WCMC, 2009. "

UNEP-WCMC species data­base: CITES-listed species

Zo­o­log­i­cal So­ci­ety of San Diego, 2010. "Toco Tou­can" (On-line). Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 12, 2010 at http://​www.​sandiegozoo.​org/​animalbytes/​t-toucan.​html.