Toucan

Toucans are great.

What strikes you first of all are all the bright colours to look at. Smashing. We love brightly coloured animals here at Animal Reviews, and toucans - sartorially speaking, just work. Plumage is the standard black with perhaps a bit of colour thrown here and there, but it's the yellow and orange (and on occasion, red) beak that performs the magic. Of course, on a Sparrow or Thrush this beak colouration would be wasted, but here Mamma Nature has really gone to town. That's right readers, the beak of the Toucan is often half as long as the Toucan itself!

Truely, this is a wonderful animal.

Toucans can also be tamed, and are as bright as buttons. Is there no end to their magnificence?

Stop. Before we start proclaiming the Toucan as the second coming, let us consider all the evidence. For every positive there must be a negative. For the Toucan, mobility is a big issue. Toucans have short, dumpy legs and possibly the oddest feet in the bird kingdom. If you imagine a bird's foot, what do you see? Chances are, you're thinking of three toes sticking out of the front, and one out the back. It's bird standard issue. Now look at the Toucan. Two toes point forwards and two point backwards. There simply is no need for this, and although apologists may claim that this adds vital perching stability, they miss the point. Why go to the trouble of wearing a smart jacket with the most beautiful hat in the world, and then go on to complete the look with a pair of tassled golfing loafers?

Thus, as much as we respect the Toucan, we cannot give it our highest accolade. It falls, ultimately, by it's own high standards. Unlucky.

Overall Toucan Score: 6.7/10

Hi there,

I have to come to the toucan's defence. It's a lovely bird and a mighty shame his feet let him down. I can see your point, but please bear in mind that the toucan is no freak of nature, he actually shares foot designs with some other highly-respected members of the bird world, most notably woodpeckers and treecreepers. The two-up, two-down toe design enables the toucan (and other birds with this design) to cling on vertically to the side of trees. Using their tails as props (against the tree trunk), they are then quite free to use their beaks for doing stuff like pecking at bark and lifting bits of bark up and collecting bark and all manner of things with bark that are quite frankly impossible from a branch perch. Toucans
also nest in holes in trees, so it's mighty useful for a bird of that size to be able to actually get into his nest without having to fly directly into a narrow hole.

So, you see, far from being "tassled loafers", the toucan has a hidden power. A bit like spiderman.

Any chance of a re-mark for this fella?

Best regards,
Andrew

Animal Reviews Independent Moderation Panel:

Thanks for the additional info Andrew. The only flaw with this argument is that squirrels can cling to the side of trees, and they've got normal feet. Mind you, I suppose they do have four of them. You win.

Animal Reviews Post Moderation Toucan Score: 7.6/10