Species Fact Profile: Keel-Billed Toucan (Ramphastos sulfuratis)

Keel-Billed Toucan

Ramphastos sulfuratus (Lesson, 1830)

Range: Central America, northern South America
Habitat: Lowland Forest, Forest Edge
Diet: Fruit, Eggs, Insects, Small Vertebrates
Social Grouping: Small Flocks of 6-12
Reproduction: Monogamous, nest in cavities, 2-4 glossy white eggs incubated by both parents for 16-20 days, chicks fledge at 8-9 weeks (how long it takes beak to fully form).  May raise 2-3 broods per year
Lifespan: 20 Years
Conservation Status: IUCN Least Concern, CITES Appendix II

• Body length 52 centimeters, (banana-shaped bull grows to be one-third the size of the body), weigh 400 grams.  Males are slightly larger than females
• Despite large size, bill (green with orange blazes on the sides and a red  tip) is actually very light - hollow, bone-reinforced - and is edged with tooth like ridges.  The hill houses a long, slender tongue
• Plumage is black with a yellow bib and cheeks, a white rump, and red under the tail
• Flocks roost in tree cavities, sometimes several birds crowding in together.  They fit by folding their beaks beneath their wings when they roost
• Feed by swallowing fruit hole, will regurgitate larger seeds, smaller seeds will pass through the digestive tract (seeds are unharmed in both cases, making the toucan a seed-disperser)
• Vocalization is a creek-creek, resembling a tree frog (females have a higher pitch)
• Spend most of their lives high in the trees, rarely come to the ground
• Predators include arboreal carnivores, snakes, and especially birds of prey
• Two subspecies - northern (nominate) is larger and has a longer bill than the souther (R. s. brevicannatus).  Coloration also differs slightly between the two
• Historically have been hunted for meat and feathers, sometimes sold for pet trade (captives are sensitive to iron-storage disease if their diet is not properly managed)
• National bird of Belize