Fun Choco Toucan Facts For Kids
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The Choco toucan is a bird native to the Pacific slope of western Colombia and western Ecuador. It is found in the Chocó rainforest regions, giving this bird its name.
The Choco toucan has a remarkably big bill that is bicolored, yellow and black. The bill of the chesnut-mandibled toucan is also yellow and black but has some chestnut color on the lower mandible.
These two birds look very similar but can be separated by their calls. The Choco toucan croaks and the chesnut-mandibled toucan yelps.
The Choco toucan lives for 12-20 years. The Choco toucan is mostly a fruit-eating bird but it also includes insects, cicadas, lizards, frogs, spiders, and tiny birds into its diet.
This toucan is also a bad incubator of its own eggs in the wild and in captivity. The Choco toucan species shows decreasing population trends but is a species of Least Concern according to the IUCN.
For more relatable content, check out these sun parakeet fun facts and keel-billed toucan facts for kids.
Choco Toucan Interesting Facts
What type of animal is a Choco toucan?
The Choco toucan (Ramphastos brevis) is a bird.
What class of animal does a Choco toucan belong to?
The Choco toucan (Ramphastos brevis) belongs to the Aves class of animals. Choco toucans belong to the order Piciformes, family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae family is synonymous with the neotropical toucans.
How many Choco toucans are there in the world?
The exact number of Choco toucans in the world is unknown because the global population is not quantified and the species is either uncommon or very common within the Pacific slope habitats in Ecuador and Colombia.
Where does a Choco toucan live?
The Choco toucan (Ramphastos brevis) lives in the regions of western Colombia and western Ecuador. It inhabits the slope of the Pacific within these areas.
What is a Choco toucan's habitat?
The Choco toucan (Ramphastos brevis) inhabits the rainforests of the humid Chocó region. This bird is also seen in foothill forests and humid lowland forests.
Who do Choco toucans live with?
Choco toucans are often seen foraging with other birds in groups of two to five individuals. They are also seen in pairs.
How long does a Choco toucan live?
The Choco toucan (Ramphastos brevis) lives for 12-20 years.
How do they reproduce?
Choco toucans reproduce by mating and laying eggs. Fruit-throwing is a part of their mating rituals. They nest very high up in the trees, in hollows. Their large bills are not very effective at digging or making holes in trees, meaning they have to find holes that have already been made.
After breeding, Choco toucan females lay three to four pure white eggs. The nest is not lined and is usually on some wood chips or seeds. The incubation is done by males and females, but neither sex sits on the nest for longer than an hour and the eggs are uncovered a lot of the time.
The eggs hatch after 16 days and blind chicks emerge. The chicks have pink skin and no down feathers.
The bill along with other features takes about four months to develop. The feathers start developed at the age of four weeks. The chicks are fed by both parents with fruit and the chicks fledge at an age of 45-50 days.
What is their conservation status?
The conservation status of the Choco toucan (Ramphastos brevis) species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature is Least Concern.
Choco Toucan Fun Facts
What do Choco toucans look like?
The Choco toucan (Ramphastos brevis) is a fairly large bird but is the smallest in the Ramphastos genus of toucans. It is mostly a black bird with a yellow bib.
The bill is also black but has a prominent yellow stripe on the top side. The upper-tail coverts of the Choco toucan are white and the undertail coverts are red.
The ocular skin is green. It is almost identical to the bigger chestnut-mandibled toucan but the Choco toucan does not have any brown on its beak. The breast, cheeks, and throat are yellow and the rump is white.
The lower mandible of the Choco toucan is all black and the upper mandible is bicolored. The Choco toucan can also be said to be a smaller version of the black-mandibled toucan.
How cute are they?
Choco toucans are beautiful and distinct-looking birds. The very first thing they are noticed for are their large bicolored bills. They are mostly black and yellow but also display shades of white, green, and red.
How do they communicate?
Choco toucans communicate via calls and vocalizations. Their call is a series of 'grrrack…grrrack….grrrack….grrrack' croaks. The croaks are what separates them from similar-looking and larger toucans in the wild that yelp.
How big is a Choco toucan?
Choco toucans are 17.7-21.7 in (45-55 cm) long which makes them four times bigger than verdins.
How fast can a Choco toucan fly?
Choco toucans are not prolific fliers. They can, however, move over short distances at speeds close to 39 mph (62.8 kph).
How much does a Choco toucan weigh?
The Choco toucan (Ramphastos brevis) weighs 14.5 oz (410 g) on average.
What are the male and female names of the species?
Males and females of the Choco toucan species do not have any specific names.
What would you call a baby Choco toucan?
A baby Choco toucan is called a chick.
What do they eat?
Choco toucans mostly eat fruits, but their diet can also include fish, frogs, lizards, bugs, snakes, spiders, tiny birds, cicadas, termites, crickets, and other insects
They themselves are preyed upon by different species of large birds and weasels.
Are they dangerous?
No, the Choco toucan species is not dangerous.
Would they make a good pet?
Choco toucans are incredibly difficult to care for in captivity. They are susceptible to iron-storage disease and their care and feeding are difficult to handle. Breeding them in captivity is very hard too. They are not very popular as pets.
Did you know...
Toucans can fly short distances at speeds of 39 mph (62.8 kph).
Toucans rarely accept frogs into their diet but mostly eat fruits. They also eat fish, lizards, bugs, snakes, spiders, tiny birds, cicadas, termites, crickets, other insects, and eggs of other birds.
The large beaks of toucans may have two purposes. One is to look extravagant and beautiful to attract the best mates possible. Another is that their beaks may be there to regulate the heat inside their bodies.
What are the different types of toucans?
The different types of toucans include the toco toucan, the red-billed toucan, the Cuvier's toucan, the chestnut-mandibled toucan, the black-mandibled toucan, the keel-billed toucan, the channel-billed toucan, the yellow-ridged toucan, the ariel toucan, the citron-throated toucan, the Choco toucan, and the green-billed toucan.
The geographical distribution of all the birds of the toucan family is limited to Central America and South America. Many of these toucans look similar but they can be separated by their calls as some are croakers and some are yelpers.
For example, the Choco toucan is very similar to the black-mandibled and the chesnut-mandibled toucan but its voice is more of a croak whereas the voice of the other two is a yelp.
What is the difference between a Choco vs yellow-throated toucan?
The Choco toucan's habitat distribution is limited to a habitat of lowland forests in western Colombia and western Ecuador. The yellow-throated toucan and its subspecies are found in southeastern Honduras, western Ecuador, southwestern and northeastern Colombia, south-central Peru, and northern Venezuela.
The main difference between the two indistinguishable species is that Choco toucans have an all-black lower mandible and the yellow-throated toucan has some brown on theirs. They are also overall larger and have a 'yelp' call, unlike the Choco toucans' 'croak' call.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other birds from our American oystercatcher facts and Toco toucan fun facts pages.
You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable chestnut-mandibled toucan coloring pages.
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