Toucans are gregarious. They flock together in large groups that can be downright noisy. They can be heard squawking, chattering, barking, and making all sorts of sounds against the forest background.
They like to perch high in trees can be seen feeding their companions or preening them with their long beaks. Toucans are intelligent birds that enjoy playing games, like beak wrestling. During mating, toucans will toss fruit to one another.
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A toucan's bill is sharp and has saw-like edges to open fruit with. The toucan diet largely consists of fruit and toucans will use their beak to get fruit from trees. They will also eat insects, spiders, lizards, eggs, and even other birds’ nestlings. The toucans put the food in the tip of their bill, give their head an upward jerk and at the same instant open their mouths, thereby tossing the berry or other food item into the back of their throat. To feed, they often jump or hop from branch to branch.
When they sleep, they turn their heads around and tuck their bills under their wings and tail, making them appear to be a ball of feathers. It is widely assumed that this is so they can sleep in the holes in trees.
Toucans can live for 20 years in the wild.
