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  Profile

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  In flight

Toucans & Aracaris

White-throated Toucan

Ramphastos tucanus

• legendary
• 50 km/h
• Least Concern

Yelps like a dog when alarmed. Bill a third of its body length, reinforced with bony struts to stay light.

Habitat

Humid lowland and foothill tropical rainforest, forest edges, secondary growth, and riverine/gallery (várzea) forest within the Amazon Basin, including locally in cerrado-adjacent riverine forest.

Fun fact

Despite its large size, the White-throated Toucan is a weak flier that moves through the canopy with a heavy, undulating flight and rarely covers more than about 100 m in a single flight bout.

Range

Amazon Basin of northern and western South America: southeastern Venezuela, the Guianas, and northern Brazil (nominate red-billed group, tucanus); west through southern Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru to northern and central Bolivia (Cuvier's/cuvieri and Inca/inca subspecies groups). Occurs throughout Amazonia including the adjacent Tocantins and Araguaia River drainages.

Diet

Primarily an arboreal fruit-eater; supplements its diet with large arthropods/insects, small lizards, and eggs and nestlings of smaller birds.

Size

0.56 m

Lifespan

20 years