Giant Toucan Skull Replica or Toco Toucan measures 8.4 inches. Toco Toucan Skull Replica is museum quality polyurethane resin cast. Made in the USA. 2-part skull (separate cranium and jaw).
Giant Toucan or Toco Toucan Skull Replica measures 8.4 inches. Toco Toucan Skull Replica is museum quality polyurethane resin cast. Made in the USA. 2-part skull (separate cranium and jaw).
The Giant Toucan or Toco toucan (Ramphastos toco), also known as the Common toucan, 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 large spot on the tip. It has pointy edges like a serrated kitchen knife. This allows toucans to bite into tough fruit and other items of food.
Giant Toucan or Toco toucans are large birds that can grow to be 25 inches tall and their beaks are over 7 inches long. Even though their beak looks big and heavy, it’s actually light because it is hollow and made of keratin with thin rods of bone to support it.
Researchers think this large bill is used to show off to potential mates and as a defensive weapon.
The Toco toucan’s tongue is long and featherlike, and is used to grab food (like fruit, insects, and small reptiles) and toss it down the bird’s throat. Because the bill is so light, a toco toucan can use it to reach fruit on branches that are too small to support their weight.
It is endemic to South America, where it has a wide distribution from the Guianas south to northern Argentina and Uruguay, and its range has recently been expanding southwards.
Unlike other Toucans, which inhabit continuous forests, the Giant Toucan or Toco toucans inhabit a variety of semi-open habitats at altitudes of up to 5,740 ft. They are especially common in the Brazilian cerrado, gallery forests, and the wetlands of the Pantanal.
The Giant Toco or Toco toucans mainly feed on fleshy fruits, but also supplement their diets with insects, eggs, lizards and nestlings of other birds. They feed on any available sugar-rich fruits, and show a high level of variation in their diet depending on the surrounding habitat.
Toucan birds make nests in small holes high up in hollow trees. They sometimes put a thin layer of grass or regurgitated seeds inside the hole as a lining for the nest. Toucans don’t make holes in trees. Instead, they make their nests in holes created by woodpeckers or other animals.
Breeding is seasonal, with the timing of the breeding season differing between regions. Nests are usually made in hollows in trees and contain two to five eggs.
The female Giant Toco or Toco toucan lays one to five shiny white eggs deep in a tree cavity. Both the male and female incubate the eggs for 15 to 18 days. The chicks hatch with closed eyes and bare skin, completely dependent on their parents for survival. By three weeks of age, their eyes open and feathers begin to appear.
