Keel-Billed Toucan

"Ramphastos sulfuratus"

By:  V.J.S.

Kingdom | Phylum | Class | Order | Family | Genus and Species

Fun Facts | Art and Poetry | Works Cited

Kingdom: Animal

Characteristics that place it here:

• Multicellular

• Heterotrophs

• Digests food internally

• Lacks cell walls

• does not contain the prokaryotes

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Phylum: Chordata

Characteristics that place it here:

•  segmented body, including segmented muscles

• three germ layers and a well-developed coelom.

• single, dorsal, hollow nerve cord, usually with an enlarged anterior end (brain)

•  tail projecting beyond (posterior to) the anus at some stage of development

•  pharyngeal pouches present at some stage of development

• ventral heart, with dorsal and ventral blood vessels and a closed blood system

• complete digestive system

• bony or cartilaginous endoskeleton usually present.

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Class: Aves

Characteristics that place it here:

• horny beak, no teeth

• large muscular stomach

• feathers

• large yolked, hard-shelled eggs. The parent bird provides extensive care of the young until it is grown, or gets some other bird to look after the young.   

• strong skeleton

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Order: Piciformes

Characteristics that place it here:

• Zygodactyl feet; long, barb-tipped tongues; pointed, stiff rectrices

• unique arrangement of tendons in toes

• very diverse bill shapes

• Drill into wood for food and excavating nest cavities

• cavity nesters; altricial young

• worldwide, excluding Australasia

• Flight often undulating

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Family: Ramphastidae

Characteristics that place it here:

• Colorful

• Toucan

• Ramphastinae

• karyotype pattern

• Related to woodpecker

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Genus and Species: Ramphastos sulfuratus

 Characteristics that place it here:

• It is a large and colorful bird
• a shiny black body
• black tail with white feathers on lower back and crimson feathers under base of tail
• The bill is very long in relation to the rest of the body, but very light
• bill is greenish yellow turning almost dark red toward the tip
• Legs are bright blue, with two toes directed forward and two backward

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Fun Facts:

• Males have a longer bill than females.
• Their voices can be taken for cricket or tree frog chirps.
• They are found in couples or in groups of 12 or more individuals.
• During the breeding season in spring they nest in tree holes and lay 3 - 5 eggs.

• Paradoxically the colourful plummage and the even more colourful beak are a perfect camouflage in the treetops, since from a distance they make Toucans rather look like fruits than birds.

• Ramphastos sulfuratus is a large (about 20 inches or 52 cm long) colorful bird, and has a bill that can grow to be up to one third the size of its body.

• The large banana-shaped bill is the most distinguishing feature of R. sulferatus, and is surprisingly lightweight for its size.

• The light weight of the keratin-composed bill is due to its hollow, bone-reinforced construction.
• The bill is edged with tooth-like ridges. Housed within the bill is a long, narrow, feather-like tongue.
• The body of R. sulfuratus is black, and it has a bright yellow bib and cheeks.
• Its rump is white, and the undertail coverts are a brilliant red. The area directly around the eyes is bare, showing the pale blue skin underneath.
• Its bill, which takes up the entire front of its head, is green, with a bright orange blaze on the side, red on the tip of the upper mandible, and blue on the tip of the lower mandible.
• and females share the same coloration and large bill, the only difference being that the male is slightly larger than the female.
• Its tail is long and square-shaped, and its wings are wide and short to enable flight through trees.
• weighs about 400 grams

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~Art and Poetry~

Mister Bird with a colorful beak

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~Works Cited~

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Aves.html

"\"Aves\"." 2001. University of Michigan. 18 Feb 2004. < http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Aves.html>.

http://magazine.naturecom.de/text/toucan.html

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Ramphastos_sulfuratus.html

http://www.fw.vt.edu/fisheries/ornithology/Ornithology/Piciformes.html

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1415-47572002000200006&lng=en&nrm=iso

http://www.nps.gov/centralamerica/guatemala/toucan.shtml

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