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In the Amazon, a cacophony of birdcalls surrounds you. One piercing, cheerful yelp catches your ear. Could this be the same sound you remember from a Saturday morning in your childhood? The Cuvier's Toucan could have been the inspiration for Toucan Sam, the spokesbird for Froot Loops cereal. Its huge bill is surprisingly light, and enables the bird to pluck fruit – or other birds' nests! – hanging from small, outer branches. That bill may scare off potential predators. And it may also help regulate the bird's temperature.
BirdNote®
Toucan - Tropical Icon
Written by Adam Sedgley
This is BirdNote!
[Amazon rainforest sounds, replete with bird life]
In the Amazon, heat and humidity virtually smother you. Although a cacophony of birdcalls surrounds you, it’s hard to see even a single bird. Then one call, emanating from a cathedral of vegetation, catches your ear.
[Call of Cuvier’s Toucan]
Could this piercing and cheerful yelp be the same sound you remember from a Saturday morning in your childhood? It’s the call of a toucan, the tropical icon and inspiration for Toucan Sam, that colorful “spokesbird” for Froot Loops® cereal.
Characterized by massive yet surprisingly light bills, the 41 species in the toucan family are found only in Central and South America.
The species we are hearing now is a Cuvier’s Toucan [call of Cuvier’s Toucan].
It has a jet-black body and a spotless white bib. Its black bill, nearly as long as its body, is rimmed with vivid yellow and baby blue. That the toucan hops through the trees as it forages for fruit adds to its comical demeanor. But don’t expect this bird to lead you to a bounty of rainbow-colored sugar puffs with its nose. Toucans can’t smell.
[Call of Cuvier’s Toucan]
So why does Toucan Sam – or any other toucan – have such a large bill? Turns out that they can conserve heat – or release it – with those giant beaks. Learn more on our website, birdnote.org. I’m Mary McCann.
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Sounds of the Amazon rainforest and Cuvier’s Toucan provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recordists are not known.
Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
© 2013 Tune In to Nature.org December 2016/November 2024 Narrator: Mary McCann
ID#010506CUTOKPLU CUTO-01b
Adam Sedgley
Writer