5 Toucan Facts For Kids
If you’ve ever eaten the cereal Fruit Loops, you’ve probably seen that colorful bird with the big long beak on the box. This type of bird is called a toucan and it actually really exists. It’s a favorite bird for people who want to keep large birds as pets because its beak is so long and wide and strong. Check out some fun facts about toucans and why they’re such a favorite choice, even beyond their exotic and colorful beak!
What They Look Like
1. The bill or beak of a toucan is its most distinctive feature and what sets it apart from other similar birds. In some species of toucans, the bill or beak can be up to half the size of its body! Despite the fact that it’s so large, the bill is actually quite soft and is made of a spongy material. Inside the bill are tiny little serrations, or pieces that stick out like teeth. Some people who study birds thought this meant that they ate fish and used those serrations to chew them up, but they now know that toucans eat mostly fruit and the serrations help to mash up the fruit.
2. A toucan’s bill or beak is very colorful and can vary from orange to yellow and many other shades, and which may have marks that look like stripes. The long bill or beak lets the toucan sit in one place and grab at fruit from a tree or reach inside holes in the tree trunk to get food.
3. Toucans also have very short but very strong legs, with four toes on each foot. Their two outer toes actually face backwards, which allow them to wrap their toes around tree branches and stay secure.
How They Behave
4. Toucans are actually very aggressive and will even wrestle with other birds and take their nests, sometimes even eating the eggs that are in the nests! They usually stick together, traveling in pairs or small groups or flocks. When a baby toucan is born it has no feathers and looks completely naked! Toucans also stay in one place their whole life, unlike other birds which may fly to different areas according to the weather.
5. If you’re looking for a toucan, you can find them not only in nests but also in holes in trees! They burrow into these holes to stay safe and may build their own nest there.
