In the rainforest, competition is fierce. Protecting a fruit-rich habitat is not an easy task, but toucans have some tricks.
Toucan family
Wonderful evolution
While rainforests may be the richest region on Earth, they are also fraught with competition for food, mates, and space. Every creature in the forest is trying to build an advantage.
Ramphastos sulfuratus bullying a brown-headed parrot (Pionopsitta haematotis)
Evolution – Adaptation to the environment has given organisms a variety of traits that help them survive and reproduce for generations. Many of the secrets of survival are hidden from the human eye, or are too subtle to be intuitively perceived by the naked eye.
The toucan that lives in the Americas is not one of them.
One look at this enthusiasm, you know it's in Brazil
The beak of the toucan is beautiful to some and funny to others. This saliency makes one wonder – what is the function of the beak? And, with what a huge mouth how to fly?
Optimal solution for strength and weight
In the toucan family, their "beak-to-body ratio" is the largest of all birds. More than 40 species of toucans, each flaunting its oversized beak, some of which are more than a third the length of their bodies.
It is longer than one-third the length of its body
This looks thick and huge mouth, which is actually very light, and does not affect flight.
Scientists took a closer look at these colorful evolutionary wonders and found that the giant beak was cleverly constructed —a thin outer layer of keratin sheath that surrounds the bone fiber matrix with plenty of voids in it — a combination of strength and weight that is optimized.
%￥￥%@！
These powerful beaks are useful in the forest canopy, where toucans forage for fruit in flocks, often competing with birds of other species. In such moments of fighting, there is no doubt who has the big mouth and who is strong – the toucan dominates the best picking spot.
In addition, the beak can go deep into the tree hole to obtain food that other birds cannot obtain, or it can loot the nests built by smaller birds.
It is very funny that during the epidemic, the Brazilian "big white" dressed as a toucan to do nucleic acid for the people - the perfect endorsement for nucleic acid testing - thick, long, poking hole deep ..... [Cover your face]
Hahahahaha
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The large, long beak has a clear competitive advantage, and children can guess that they can take advantage of fights. However, there are additional secrets to Big Mouth.
It wasn't until more than a decade ago that scientists discovered a hidden function in the toucan's beak. In 2009, during an infrared camera shoot, it was discovered that the toucan's large mouth was covered with a network of blood vessels and could control blood flow on its own.
It's hot
By varying the amount of blood flowing through these "outside" parts of the body, toucans are able to regulate their internal body temperature: when they are hot, they increase the rate of blood flow, and the large mouth efficiently releases excess heat outwards. This is a big advantage in the hot, humid tropics where they live.
Write at the end
In Africa and Asia, there are no toucans. Hornbills occupy the ecological niche of toucans and are deeply related to each other, which is a classic example of convergent evolution. Simply put: canopy + eating fruit + fierce competition = big mouth.
It can be said that the emergence of these huge bird beaks on the earth confirms Hegel's classic "existence is reasonable".
Canopy + eating fruit + fierce competition = big mouth
Writing here, I would like to say two more sentences: "Existence is reasonable" really means that everything that exists has a reason for its existence, and everything that exists can find its reason for existence.
The next time some scum comes up with "existence is reasonable" to justify his behavior, he will be afraid of TA~
The author thanks you for your attention (¬_¬)