Toucans. Fauna Cuiabana. Cuiabá Basin Fauna Project Pages.

I wrote on April 20th 2015 about Toco Toucans.  That paage concerned adult birds. This one concerns nestlings.  Here in the Cuiabá Basin in Western Brazil there are several species of toucan.  There is the White throated toucan, the Channel-billed, Lettered Araçari, Red-necked Araçari and a couple of others.

It is a curious fact for naturalists that the commonest would appear to be the Toco Toucan.  This species is classified according to Linnaeus' system of binomial nomenclature in the following way:

• Kingdom Animalia
• Phylum Chordata
• Class Aves
• Order Piciformes
• Family Ramphastidae (Toucans and araçaris
• Genus Ramphastos
• Species Ramphastos toco.

The English name is the Toco Toucan.  The local Portuguese name is Tucanuçu.

Breeding Biology.

Around the world the breeding season for tropical birds seems to be from October.  Just this week I have come across two nestlings.  Yesterday it was a Toco Toucan chick, whilst earlier in the week it was a Ruddy Ground Dove.

The chick that was drawn to my attention yesterday is in the clinical analyses laboratory at the veterinary hospital here in the Cuiabá Basin region of Brazil. It must be less than a week old.  It is highly vocal and faces two challenges.  The first one is being fed a suitable diet.  The second one is not imprinting upon its human carers.  Time will tell.