Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain Stuff Lauren Boulba bom Here Two Cans, Sam, that bird with the horn shaped, rainbow striped bill on the front of the Fruit Loops cereal box, has made the two can recognizable to generations of people who have never been anywhere near the Neo Tropics, and even before Sam began following his nose, the two cans undeniable graphic appeal led
to its dramatic profile gracing advertisements decades beforehand. Two cans have been used to promote everything from Guinness beer in the nineteen thirties to the Brazilian Social Democracy Party in the nineteen eighties. But two cans in actuality don't have anything to do with beer, democracy or cereal, although they definitely concern themselves with fruit. Two cans are a group
of social birds native to Central and South America. They spend their days doing what any good fruit givore that is, fruit eater does, dispersing the seeds of the trees whose fruits they eat. The smallest two can species, the lettered are Sorry, is only about eleven inches that's twenty eight centimeters tall, and weighs only about four and a half ounces. That's around a hundred and thirty grams. But the largest, the Toco two can, is nearly three times is tall
and six times is heavy. What all two can species, and there are over forty of them, have in common is their preference for their home turf. Two cans don't migrate, their habit of making nests in the hollow cavities of trees, and of course they're long, often colorful bills. For the article, this episode is based on How Stuff Work. Spoke by email with Thomas Schulenberg, who studies neotropical birds at the
Cornell Lab of Ornithology. He said, two cans use their bills to do all the things that any bird would do, but perhaps the most important function is to grab fruit, and much of the fruit that they eat can be swallowed in a gold gulp. The bird grabs something with the tip of the bill, then tosses it towards the back of the throat and swallows. Two cans also capture and eat small vertebrates when they find them, mostly small lizards and frogs, and the eggs and nestlings of smaller birds.
Aside from feeding, two cans use the bill to preen the plumage just like any other bird. Of course, a bird doesn't need a bill is splendid as the two cans to eat fruit. Many other avian frugivores have substantially smaller bills, so it must be that the bill of the two can serves some other rolls aside from showing down. In many two can species, the bill and head are used in displays communications with their own kind. Schulenberg said the larger species of two cans the genus run fastest.
The model for the fruit loop's icon, often perch on exposed sites in the canopy and call while throwing the head back and swinging it from side to side. And in all species, the bill of the male is significantly longer than the bill of the female, So resumably the size of the two can bill owes as much or more to sexual selection as it does to any functional requirement. Two cans bills might also be useful for shedding excess heat.
A study published in the July two thousand nine issue of Science magazine suggested that given the surface area of the bill, which accounts for between thirty and fifty percent of the bird's entire body, a two cans beak receives a lot of blood, which can serve as a good tool for thermal exchange. Schulenberg added there's a growing awareness now that the bill serves a similar function even in
species with much smaller bills, such as sparrows. Since two cans don't migrate, you won't find two can species anywhere other than their native range, unless, of course, they were taken there through the exotic pet trade. However, two cans bear a striking resemblance to a type of bird found in subtropical Africa and Asia called a hornbill. Both are large birds with large, long, colorful bills, and superficially very similar, but they're not really to one another at all. Schullenberg said.
The two can and hornbill branches of the bird world diverged from each other around fifty to fifty five million years ago, so they've each been going their own way for a long long time. Any similarities between them are the result of convergent evolution, the independent acquisition of similar traits or behaviors. Although you'd have to be in the neo tropics to see a two can in the wild,
some people do keep them as pets. They're not legal in every country or even in every US state, but can be kept in some places with a special license or zoological certificate. Two cans are active and time consuming pets, expensive due to their need for a constant supply of fresh fruit, and are long lived. A two can in captivity lives in average for around twenty to twenty five years. Also, they are wild animals that haven't had generations to get
used to cohabiting with humans. Up toucan whose hormones are telling him to perform a raucous mating display in your kitchen just might be part of what you have to get used to and will be much more challenging and difficult to train away than, for example, a dog that gets up too early on a Saturday morning. Today's episode is based on the article the toucan is Far more than the Fruit Loop's mascot on how stuff Works dot com,
written by Jesselyn Shields. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio in partnership with hostuffwork dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Klang. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.