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Birders

Donkees

(32,386 posts) Fri Mar 3, 2023, 03:49 PM Mar 2023

4 replies

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Gray-breasted Mountain Toucan (Original Post) Donkees Mar 2023 OP

Wonder why it needs such a large beak to eat berries and fruit? The Wielding Truth Mar 2023 #1

They also eat small animals: Donkees Mar 2023 #2

That makes sense. Thank you, Donkees. The Wielding Truth Mar 2023 #3

(11,421 posts)

1. Wonder why it needs such a large beak to eat berries and fruit?

Fri Mar 3, 2023, 04:01 PM

Mar 2023

(32,386 posts)

2. They also eat small animals:

Fri Mar 3, 2023, 04:19 PM

Mar 2023

Along with fruit, toucans also catch and eat small animals including songbirds, crickets, cicadas (suh-KAY-duhz), spiders, termites, lizards, toads, frogs, and snakes. They raid eggs and nestlings from other birds' nests. Some species catch bats as they sleep in daytime roosts.

https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/toucans-ramphastidae

(11,421 posts)

3. That makes sense. Thank you, Donkees.

Fri Mar 3, 2023, 04:36 PM

Mar 2023

(32,386 posts)

4. This link mentions that they supplement their diet with protein to help raise their chicks ...

Fri Mar 3, 2023, 04:55 PM

Mar 2023

and that the beak is also a thermo-regulator, a grabber-tool, and helps masticate their food with the serrated edge:

Why Are Toucans’ Beaks So Big?

https://www.birdspot.co.uk/bird-brain/why-are-toucans-beaks-so-big