Ramphastos Toco 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).
The Ramphastos Toco or Toco toucan also known as the Giant toucan or 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.
Ramphastos Toco 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.
Recently, studies have also revealed that, these bills regulate the temperature of the toco’s body adjusting blood flow to the beak.
The more the blood flows, more heat is released, which is how these birds can also keep their body warm by tucking their beak on its back feathers.
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. They sleep by touching their tails to their heads, which is kind of like a huge ball of feathers.
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 Ramphastos Toco or Toco toucan’s 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. The Toco toucan also consumes blackbird, dove, flycatcher eggs and nestlings.
The Ramphastos Toco or Toco toucan’s digestive system has one weak spot, and that is digesting specific seeds of the fruit.
They will not eat the seeds and will drop them while eating. They also rarely drink water; they get all of their water from the juicy fruits they eat, such as guavas and citrus.
They have a pretty important role in the tropical ecosystem, mainly because they spread fruit tree seeds.
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 Ramphastos 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.
