Animal Directory Featured species in the planned Aviary habitat
Photo: Louis Imbeau CC BY 4.0 Wikimedia Commons
Channel-billed Toucan
Ramphastos vitellinus
Young Explorer Notes
Three quick things to know about the Channel-billed Toucan.
- Superpower
Bill is up to a third of the bird's total length but weighs almost nothing — it's a hollow keratin shell over a honey…
- Home
Tall aviaries filled with birdsong and flight.
- How to help
Friends who need our help
Vulnerable means they could disappear if we do not protect their homes.
Fun facts for everyone
- Bill is up to a third of the bird's total length but weighs almost nothing — it's a hollow keratin shell over a honeycomb of bone.
- That oversized bill is also a thermal radiator; toucans dump body heat through it the way an elephant uses its ears.
- Sleeps with bill tucked over the back and tail folded forward, turning into a near-perfect feather ball that fits inside a tree cavity.
- Hops between branches more often than it flies — long flights look laboured, with a heavy dipping motion between flaps.
- IUCN reassessed the species as Vulnerable in 2021 after fragmenting Atlantic Forest habitat and a sharp decline in the southern Brazilian subspecies.
From the master plan
The Channel-billed Toucan brings the canopy story to the Aviary — staged along the elevated walkway where guests look down into mid-storey foliage rather than up at it. The bill silhouette is one of the most universally recognised in the bird world; the conservation story is less well-known and worth telling.
IUCN status sourced from the Channel-billed Toucan assessment (BirdLife International, 2021) — uplisted to Vulnerable with a continuing population decline.
Find them in
Aviary
A colorful free-flight habitat full of sound, motion, and tropical light
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