Toucans are among the world’s noisiest birds. amsterdamned / Getty Images

Whether it’s pitching breakfast cereal or enthralling kids on a nature show, toucans are popular and unmistakable animals. These intelligent birds with oversize, colorful bills are found in the rainforests of Central and South America.

Discover fascinating facts about toucans’ distinctive bills, their conservation status, and what they do way up in the rainforest canopies.

The common name “toucan” comes from the sound the birds make, says the San Diego Zoo.1 Toucans are among the world’s noisiest birds. When they sing, they sound like frogs croaking. (Listen to a toucan’s call via the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Macaulay Library.) They also make tapping and clattering noises with their bills. Some toucan species also make barking, growling, and braying sounds.

Female toucans typically have higher voices than males. They use their calls to rally other birds to good foraging sites and to differentiate themselves from other groups of toucans.

Toucans are part of the family Ramphastidae, which includes about 40 species of toucans, as well as the smaller toucanets and aracaris.2 The one thing they all have in common is a bill that is disproportionately large compared to the rest of their bodies.

Scientists aren’t exactly sure why the toucan has such a massive beak. It may play a role in courtship, as the large, brightly colored bill might be alluring to potential mates. Its size also might be intimidating to predators or other birds that compete with the toucan for food. But in an actual fight, the unwieldy bill wouldn’t be of much use. It’s made of a honeycomb of keratin that isn’t very durable, heavy, or strong.

The bill comes in handy at dinnertime. Toucans use the large appendage to reach fruit that would otherwise be out of their grasp, then use the serrated edge of the bill with amazing dexterity to peel and eat the fruit.

Scientists have also found that the toucan’s bill plays a role in helping it cool off. In a study published in the journal Science, researchers said they discovered toucans can regulate blood flow to the bill, using it as a way to keep its body temperature under control.3 That’s also why they tuck it under their wings when they sleep, so as not to cool off too much.

Although their massive bills are useful, they don’t often make toucans look graceful—especially when flying. “In their slow, undulatory flight, toucans often look awkward or unbalanced, probably because the large bill seems to be pulling the large bird behind it,” writes Les Beletsky in “Birds of the World.”4

Maybe that’s why toucans spend more time hopping than flying. They spend most of their lives high in the rainforest canopies, nestled in the leaves. Their preferred habit is mature forest with full-grown trees at a low elevation and access to plenty of ripe fruit for eating. They do not like to fly across rivers, which is why waterways often create barriers between different species. Most toucans live in the same forest year-round, although some migrate seasonally between forests on mountainsides and those in lower-lying places.5

Toucan species can range quite a bit in length and weight, reports the San Diego Zoo.6 The largest is the toco toucan (Ramphastos toco) at about 24 inches (61 centimeters) and up to 1.9 pounds (860 grams). The smallest is the tawny-tufted toucanet (Selenidera nattereri) at 12.5 inches (32 centimeters). The lightest is the lettered aracari (Pteroglossus inscriptus) at a mere 3.4 ounces (95 grams).

Friendly birds that like to hang out together, toucans are usually observed in flocks of three to 12. Sometimes 20 or more birds live in the same group. It’s believed that they are monogamous. The birds have been spotted tossing fruit to each other as part of a kind of courtship ritual.

Probably the best known and most recognizable of the toucans, the toco toucan is listed as “least concern” on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List because the species has “such an extremely large range.”7 However, the overall population numbers are declining.

The main threats to the toco toucan and other toucan species are habitat loss and hunting. The rainforests are being taken down for farming, homes, and roads. For example, coca-growers took over the yellow-browed toucanet’s range in Peru, leading it to become one of the many birds on the endangered list.8 The ariel toucan and the Eastern red-necked aracari in Brazil are also endangered due to deforestation.910 Other species are vulnerable or near threatened.

Toucans also face threats from hunters who capture the bird to sell as pets, for food, or as trophies. When they take fruit from orchards, farmers sometimes hunt them as pests to keep them from stealing their crops.

Toucans tend to use hollowed-out tree cavities for nests. This makes sense, since they spend most of their time high up in the rainforest canopies of South and Central America, rarely making trips to the forest floor. Sometimes they move into hollows created and abandoned by woodpeckers. There, they lay up to five eggs per year, which are incubated by both parents for 15 to 18 days. In the nest, toucans sleep by turning their head backward, tucking their beak under a wing, and flipping their tail feathers up over their head to create a tidy little ball.

“Monomorphic” means that males and females look the same; there is no way to differentiate them from their outward appearance and both are equally showy. Research has shown that monomorphism is more common in animal species where successful social interaction in groups matters greatly, and perhaps even more than effective courtship (which is where males tend to evolve to become showier).

Toucans are vital to keeping rainforests alive. They eat an array of native fruits, passing the seeds through their droppings, which helps keep the plants growing and maintaining the forest’s diversity.