Blog Detail

Scientific Name: Ramphastos Sulfuratus

Flock Members: 6-12 individuals

Size: 17-22 inches

Weight: 1.1lbs

Hypoallergenic: No

Lifespan: 15-25 years

Behavior

The Keel-billed Toucan is an exploratory, communicative bird with a big, bright beak. They live in small groups of about six birds and are usually a group of one male and female and their youngsters. In many cases, they rely on some piercing vocal sounds that include yelping and croaking that help them communicate with other bird members in the flock and ward off competitors sophomore Keel-billed Toucans. They are sedentary and remain practically all their lives in the mid- and upper-canopy layers of tropical lowland and sub-montane forests in Central and South America. If you keep them in a house, book pet house sitting services for every moment you are away!

The Keel-billed Toucans are frugivorous, and while foraging for fruits that are on thin branches, the Toucans perch on the bills instead of on the branches. Their bill also assists them in cracking seeds and getting to insects hiding in holes in trees. They have been noticed committing to mobbing, flying around owls, and trying to shoo them away using stooping at the predator.

When they are not breeding, Keel-billed Toucans will roost in large flocks, sometimes comprising up to 50 birds. This is especially enabling them about their tail that they can fold over their back allowing them to pile closely in a roost hole. It is advantageous for safety against after-dark predators when many people are around it. 

History

The keel-billed Toucan (Ramphastos sulfuratus) is a large neotropical toucan with a bright, colorful plumage and an enormous and colorful beak. Most authorities estimate that toucans developed 30 million years ago in the Americas during the Oligocene epoch from other tree-dwelling birds. Their conspicuous, large, numerous, and brightly colored bills originally developed to get at the fruit located at the treetops of forests. Additionally, the toucans developed large bills that could have been used for protection, temperature control, social communication, or perhaps as signals to the female birds. 

Toucans and people more than know each other, for toucans have interacted with humans for thousands of years. Toucan images and motifs have had cultural significance in numerous tribes of Native Americans in the territories with toucans. 

Examples of such are toucans in the Aztecs and Mayans' art objects, textiles, and jewelry, icons of forces of nature and soul, as depicted by the viewer. Due to the voyages of the early European explorers during the 16th to 18th centuries, many toucan specimens were brought to Europe, and like many other new animals, the Toucan instantly became the object of fascination and featured in many of the first scientific visualizations. At present, toucans are still considered meaningful figures in the mythology and art of most of the modern states of Central and South America. But in the last century, the toucan birds' population decreased because of deforestation and the illicit sale of the birds as pets. Current conservation efforts are focused on researching and preserving the wild populations. Only participative non-profit captive breeding aims to maintain toucans for the next generations of scientists and kids to know and enjoy the tropics.

Breeding

The Keel-billed Toucan is thus a species of Toucan found in the region of central and South America from extreme southern Mexico right to Bolivia and Brazil. Though they are not endangered internationally, they have some risks from habitat depletion in the form of deforestation and threats from hunting to sell to pet traders. Breeding often occurs during the early stages of the rainy season and in some areas of the world, the floods triggered by this season are thought to cause it. Keel-billed Toucans breed for life while practicing the Social monogamous system, which means the male and female partners stay together throughout the breeding season. 

They dig nest pits in aerial termite nests on branches of standing dead tree trunks to breed. It lays only two to four white eggs, and both parents incubate them for about 15 to 20 days before hatching. The fledglings are born almost naked with very few down feathers and equally as importantly, their eyes are open at hatching. Whilst both parents do not feed the altricial hatchlings, they share brood care over the hatchlings for the first few weeks until the young fledge and grow their contour feathers enough to regulate their thermoregulation needs. During this period both parents leave the nest to forage for fruit for the gluttonous young, using their bright multi-hued bills to access food that is unavailable to other birds. 

The chicks are fed by regurgitation, and the parents will still return to the nest to feed the chicks until the chicks start to fly, at about nine to ten weeks from hatching. When the young birds are ready to fly from the nest they will still depend on the parents for some time as they learn other skills to find food. Breeding success and productivity are related to the foods in the habitat, particularly fruiting trees, but the small and decreasing habitat raises questions about the sustainability of the Keel-billed Toucan. With longer times to reproductive maturity, about five months, with a lifespan of about 20 years, and with high parental investment in breeding, animals with long reproductive cycles are prone to fluctuations in food and nest site availability. 

Looks and Health

Keel-billed Toucan is a very colorful bird with a giant and multicolored bill. Its color is more or less black, with a yellow chest and throat and white unfeathered skin around the eyes. The oversized bill is yellow on the bottom part and the underlying parts of the beak and gradually shades orange-red at the distal end of the beak. Some aspects to look for around any healthy Toucan include shiny, clear eyes and smooth, shiny feathers. Its large bill will remain complete and free of cracks or other damage.

As per our overnight pet house-sitting service, Fairfax, the Keel-billed Toucan is very much threatened by habitat destruction in the rainforests of both Central and South American regions. Their habitats, where they reproduce and find food, are threatened by deforestation. The ban is in place, but they are still hunted and captured for the pet trade. Conservation measures focussed on preserving the habitat and fighting against poaching; therefore Keel-billed Toucan has the potential to maintain steady numbers in the future.

Food and Nutrition

The keel-billed Toucan is a medium-sized tropical bird that feeds on various things and is mostly found in the region's rainforests. Its big and bright colored bill is well equipped with a large and obligate gape to probe and forage for fruits, berries, seeds, eggs, reptiles, and insects, its necessities. This Toucan also feeds on other birds' eggs and hatchlings (protein sources), and it forages for these while other birds feed on them.

Conclusion

If the Keel-billed Toucans don't scare you straight and make you look down, an excellent way to feel you've accomplished something is watching them fly around and chase each other, just trying to throw fruits to the other side. Due to the population's similarity to humans and the rather bold appearance both genders portray, it has been used in everything from cereal box mascots to animated movies. Despite the conspicuous colors, Keel-billed Toucans are safe due to birds' aggregation; more importantly, they are vital seed dispersers. For more information on our Overnight Pet Sitting, visit PawNanny.com!