NU the Toucan

NU the Toucan is our mascot!

Toucans are native to the Amazonian region, and are known as intelligent, playful, curious and beautiful birds. They are very poor flyers, so they are often seen to hop around trees. They live on mainly fruit, although they do also occasionally eat small insects and lizards, mice and eggs of other birds.

They have an enormous bill that is almost the same length as its body! Scientists have yet to figure out the function of this bill. While it looks very strong, the bill is actually extremely light and cannot be used as the woodpecker uses its bill, although both species are related.

One very interesting thing about Toucans is that they go to bed bent double – the beak is twisted around to rest on the back, the tail is folded up to the breast, the wings wrap around the rest of the body, and voila! A feathery ball!