A toucan's enormous beak is one of nature's clever designs. It looks heavy but is mostly hollow, with thin walls of keratin (the same stuff your fingernails are made of). That means a toucan can fly with a beak almost as long as its body without getting tired.
The beak is also a great tool. The toucan uses it to reach fruit on thin branches that wouldn't hold its body weight. It picks the fruit, tosses it up in the air, and catches it in its mouth - like a bird-sized acrobat at lunchtime.
Toucans are very sociable. They live in small flocks of about six to twelve birds, and they call to each other with a sound that is more like a frog croak than a typical bird song. They sleep packed together in old woodpecker holes, often tucking their beaks under their wings to fit.
Because of their amazing colours, toucans appear on cards, posters and cereal boxes all over the world. But in Panama, you don't need a picture - you can sometimes just look out of your window and see one perched in a fruit tree, casual as anything.