Eagles
Crane
Do you recognize these two words? 鵎 ( tuǒ), a bird mentioned in ancient books; 鵼 ( kōng) A strange bird in ancient legends, "Guangyun Dongyun" Cloud: 鵼, strange bird also.
It can be seen that these two rarely used strange words refer to ancient birds, according to records, the crane is a kind of "chick" like a toucan, it uses the tree hole as a nest, can judge the good and evil of people, and will also use the mouth to peck at the evil, which obviously only exists in myths and legends.
But when these two words are combined, the tuǒ kōng is a bird that exists in reality, and because of its exaggerated mouth, it is generally called a toucan.
Toucan (Partridge). Purple Mountain reporter Liu Peng photographed
Many people will think of the hornbilly with a large beak as a toucan, which is actually not true, the toucan (plover) is a bird of the order Toucan family, mainly distributed in the tropical forests of South America, and the hornbilly belongs to the hornbill family, mainly living in Africa and southern Asia, the two are not related, and it is difficult to meet in the wild.
Hornbills with large beaks. Purple Mountain reporter Liu Peng photographed
Some hornbills have helmet-like protrusions above their long beaks, called helmet protrusions, resembling the horns of rhinos, hence the name hornbills. The toucan's beak is shaped like a machete and is brightly colored.
"Raphael" in Rio's Adventures. Zoo infographic
Many people have seen the animated movies "Rio Adventure" and "The Lion King" and are also impressed by some of these characters, "Raphael" in "Rio Adventure" is actually a toucan, and "Shazu" in "The Lion King" is an African hornbill.
Togo toucan. Purple Mountain reporter Liu Peng photographed
Purple Mountain reporter learned that the Togo toucan is the largest of all the toucans, it is also known as the whip moss toucan, with black feathers and orange-yellow beak, the tip of the beak and black patches, this combination presents a very "cartoon" effect, making the bird look very cute! The Togo toucan can reach a length of up to 60 cm and the beak length is 20 cm, and the mouth alone occupies 1/3 of the body length.
The toucan's large beak is not heavy. Purple Mountain reporter Liu Peng photographed
We can't help but wonder how the skinny toucan took on this big beak, and wouldn't it affect the balance? According to zoo staff, the average weight of toucans is only about 500 grams to 900 grams, and their large beaks, that is, beaks, are actually hollow, and the texture is very light, and it can even be described as "external strength and middle trunk".
It is understood that the outside of the toucan's beak is a thin layer of sheath, and the inside is hollow, which is a closed foam-like structure similar to cells, this special structure can effectively absorb the impact force from the outside, which is both light and strong, and does not affect movement and balance.
Source: Purple Mountain