Location and Habitat
Toco toucans are located
in many countries throughout South America. The countries are located mostly on
the eastern side of the continent and include Brazil, Guyana, Suriname,
Argentina, Bolivia and Venezuela.
**A toucans niche is to consume various fruits and deposit the
seeds in their waste, therefore the seeds are spread and the fruit can
repopulate. Also they keep the population of insects and small lizards under
control.
Reproduction
Toco toucans will lay clutches of 2 - 5 eggs in the nests they
have built in the trees. Both the male and the female will sit on the eggs to
incubate them until they hatch. The eggs will hatch after about a half of a
month of incubation. Toco toucans often
build their nests in decayed, hollow trees of the rainforest. These nests are
often found high in the canopies of the rainforests.
Tocos are
not excellent fliers so they often need to walk and hop across branches to get
to places where fruit is at. They will then use their long beaks to grab fruit
that would otherwise be out of reach to birds with smaller bills.
Natalya Thakur
I'm also looking forward to seeing and photographing these birds in the wild! I'd bet the toucan's beak is uniquely adapted to its function of getting hard-to-find fruit. I wonder how it evolved to have such vibrant plumage, and if there is a high level of sexual dimorphism.
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