By the nature of food, toucans are herbivorous birds that feed on exceptionally juicy fruits (for example, bananas) and berries. The notches on the beak help the bird to hold and open the fruit. However, they can eat spiders, some invertebrates, occasionally lizards and even small snakes. Sometimes robbery, dragging from the nests of other birds chicks and eggs.
Toucans are notable for a large, brightly colored beak. Its length is almost equal to the length of the body of the bird. However, a large beak does not cause any particular inconvenience to the bird: it is very light due to the presence of pneumatic cavities in it. The edges of the beak, more or less bent at the end downwards, are saw-tooth serrated, especially the teeth at the apex of the beak.
The tongue of these birds is long, the front part of it and the edges are fringed, which gives it a pinnate appearance. Toucans are hardly noticeable among the forest greens, especially when they sit quietly in the trees after eating: you might think that a large bright butterfly or a ripe fruit looks out of the leaves.
Almost all the time, toucans are carried in the crowns of large trees, where they eat fruits. Watching how these birds feed, it is not difficult to understand the role and significance of their beaks in their life. The fact is that the fruits growing on the tops of large trees of South American forests are mainly on the tips of thin branches, in the peripheral part of the crown. These branches, already bearing the weight of the fruit, can not stand a large bird. Fly the same fluttering flight and from the air to pick fruit, as do some other, smaller birds, toucans do not allow a heavy body and generally weak, poorly adapted to such work wings. Here it becomes obvious the importance of a huge beak: with its help, the toucan can extract and eat fruits without moving from the branch on which it sits. The notches on the beak help the bird to hold and open the fruit.
By the nature of food, toucans are herbivorous birds that feed exclusively on juicy fruits (for example, bananas) and berries. However, they can also eat spiders and some other invertebrates, occasionally lizards and even small snakes.
