Channel-billed Toucan Poster

Toucans eat fruit by snipping off the fruit with the tip of their large bill and then tossing the fruit backward into their throats, gulping it down whole. They prefer the ripest fruits. Because they eat the fruit whole, they are probably important seed dispersers in the rainforest. They can regurgitate or pass the seeds whole. They drink by dipping their bill in water and then raising it up and letting the water flow down into their mouths. Toucans use their bills to fence with each other and toss berries. Scientists are not sure why their bill is so large. They build their nests in hollow trees and both parents take turns sitting on the eggs and caring for the young birds.