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Toucans (/ ˈ t uː k æ n /, UK: /-k ə n /) are Neotropical birds in the family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the Toucan barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five genera and over 40 different species. Toucans are arboreal and typically lay two to four white ...
Where the taxonomy proposed by the IOC World Bird List conflicts with the taxonomy followed by the IUCN [a] or the 2023 edition of The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, [3] the disagreement is noted next to the species's common name (for nomenclatural disagreements) or scientific name (for taxonomic disagreements).
The evolutionary history of toucans can be traced back to the Eocene period, around 50 million years ago, when the first toucan-like bird, known as Paratodus, appeared in Europe. The modern toucan species, however, originated in South America during the Miocene period, around 23 million years ago.
The toco toucan (Ramphastos toco) is a species of bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is the largest species of toucan and has a distinctive appearance, with a black body, a white throat, chest and uppertail-coverts, and red undertail-coverts. Its most conspicuous feature is its massive beak, which is yellow-orange with a black base and ...
Keel-billed toucans have zygodactyl feet (or feet with toes 2 and 3 facing forwards, and toes 1 and 4 facing backwards) – two toes face forward and two face back. Because toucans spend a large portion of time in the trees, this helps the birds to stay on the branches of the trees and jump from one branch to another.
The red-billed toucan and Cuvier's toucan, which differ principally in the bill colour, interbreed freely wherever they meet and therefore now merit only subspecies status. Some authorities consider the Inca toucan to represent a stable hybrid population between the other two subspecies and do not recognize it as a separate subspecies.
Ramphastides is an infraorder of the order Piciformes that includes toucans and barbets. Formerly, the barbets have been classified in a single family, the Capitonidae . [ 1 ] However, this has turned out to be paraphyletic with regard to toucans, which resulted in the Capitonidae being split into several families.
Most species are relatively small toucans with a total length of 30–35 cm (12–14 in), but the yellow-eared toucanet typically has a total length of approx. 38 cm (15 in). They tend to forage alone or in pairs, feeding mainly on fruit. They are fairly quiet and elusive birds which generally keep to dense cover.