Among native peoples, toucans are linked to evil spirits and are thought to be manifestation of demons. Medicine men will also use toucans as a way to fly to the world of the spirits.
Collared aracaris use different vocalizations for various purposes. The general call is a loud peeseek, pink, or a harsh pseek. They emit a grahhrr sound when aggravated. The alarm call is a shrill eeeyeeek. When collared aracaris are excited they emit a pitit sound.
Communication Channels: visual ; acoustic
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Collared aracaris, as of 2004, were classified as Least Concern (LC) by the IUCN red list of threatened species, they have no special status according to CITES.
US Migratory Bird Act: no special status
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
There are no known adverse effects of Pteroglossus torquatus on humans.
Aside from their important ecosystem roles, the main positive benefit to humans of P. torquatus is ecotourism. These birds are common throughout their range. Bird watchers see a great number of these birds when they go on hikes.
Collared aracaris are also traded in the pet industry. If raised from chicks and hand fed, they become quite tame.
Positive Impacts: pet trade ; ecotourism ; research and education
Collared aracaris are agents of seed dispersal in the tropical forests where they live. Seeds pass through their digestive tract unharmed and are deposited away from the parent plant.
Ecosystem Impact: disperses seeds
Collared aracaris are omnivorous, eating fledgling birds, insects, eggs and dry fruits of Protium, palms, Cecropia and Ficus species.
In captivity collared aracaris are fed a diet that consists of dog food and fresh fruit. They are given plenty of water to bathe in and drink. They are also given a weak tea to drink every other month so that it will bind to the iron in their diet and help expel the iron. Iron damages their liver and is deadly. It is believed that the tannins in the tea resemble those found in water that these birds would drink in the rainforest.
As with all toucans, the bill of collared aracaris is specially designed to be durable for eating fruit, but also lightweight for flight. Though it looks heavy, the beak is thin. The inside is reinforced with a crisscross of lightweight rods made of bone. The “tooth-like” protrusions help toucans catch and grasp food in the bill.
Animal Foods: birds; reptiles; eggs; insects
Plant Foods: seeds, grains, and nuts; fruit
Primary Diet: omnivore
Pteroglossus torquatus, commonly known as "collared aracari", is found from southern Mexico to Colombia and some parts of Venezuela.
Biogeographic Regions: neotropical (Native )
Collared aracari preferred habitat is generally woody lowland forest or humid rainforest with secondary growth. These birds are found from sea level up to 1500 meters. They are fairly common throughout their range.
Range elevation: 0 to 1500 m.
Habitat Regions: tropical ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: forest ; rainforest
Longevity of collared aracaris in captivity and in the wild is unknown. Toco toucans (Ramphastos toco) live up to 20 years in captivity.
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 20 years.
Collared aracaris have a mostly black back with a green tinge to the feathers. The plumage of the neck and throat is blackish while the upper tail and rump are bright red. The undertail and belly plumage is mostly yellow with black and red stripes across the abdomen. The upper portion of the beak is whitish-gray or sometimes whitish. The lower beak and lower ridge of the upper beak are black. The lower edge of the upper beak has widely-spaced tooth-like protrusions. The beak is light weight because of a crisscross of rods made out of bone. The skin that surrounds the beak and eyes is bright red. The eyes are yellow. In this species the female is similar to the male except that her beak is smaller. Juvenile collared aracaris have a duller appearance than adults. Average weight is about 230 g and body length is 41 cm on average.
Average mass: 230 g.
Average length: 41 cm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike
Young collared aracaris are preyed upon by white hawks and forest falcons. Predation is most common on fledglings.
Known Predators:
Collared aracaris are monogamous and may mate for life. Courtship behaviors are not well known. Collared aracaris are cooperative breeders. Offspring from the previous clutch or clutches will help parents take care of their siblings. Approximately five to six adults will attend nestlings at a time, bringing food and guarding them. It is not known whether cooperative breeding is common in other toucan species.
Mating System: monogamous ; cooperative breeder
Collared aracaris breed once a year from January to May. They lay three eggs in a cluth.
Collared aracaris roost and make nests in large woodpecker holes or natural cavities about 6 to 30 m (20 to 100 ft) off the ground. These birds do not use materials for nesting. During the incubation period only one bird stays in the nest, usually one of the mating pair, to keep the eggs warm. Both of the parents take turns incubating the egg from 15 up to 18 days, with an average of 16 days. It takes another six weeks for the young to be able to leave the nest, at fledgling. The exact age at which collared aracaris are reproductively mature is unknown. However, related toco toucans become sexually mature between the ages of 3 and 4 years old.
Breeding interval: Collared aracaris breed once a year.
Breeding season: The breeding season for collared aracaris is January through May.
Average eggs per season: 3.
Range time to hatching: 15 to 18 days.
Average time to hatching: 16 days.
Average fledging age: 6 weeks.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous
Collared aracaris live in groups and five adults may roost in the nest cavity after the eggs hatch. Up to six adult birds will bring food to the nestlings. Some of the other adult birds that attend the nest are siblings to the new hatchlings, probably from the previous brood.
Collared aracaris, like other toucans, are born blind and naked and with very short beaks. On their heels they have special pads that protect them from the bottom of their nest. After six weeks they are ready to leave the nest but continue to be fed by adults for a few more weeks.
Parental Investment: altricial ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-independence (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female); post-independence association with parents
The collared aracari or collared araçari (Pteroglossus torquatus) is a near-passerine bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is found from Mexico to Colombia and Venezuela.
The collared aracari was described by the Spanish naturalist Francisco Hernández (1514-1587) in his work Rerum medicarum Novae Hispaniae thesaurus, seu, Plantarum animalium mineralium Mexicanorum historia which was published posthumously in 1651. In his Latin text Hernández used the name De Cochitenacatl, the word for the bird in the local Nahuatl language.[2] Later ornithologists based their own descriptions on that by Hernández. These included Mathurin Brisson in 1760,[3] the Comte de Buffon in 1780,[4] and John Latham in 1782.[5]
When the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin revised and expanded Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae in 1788 he included the collared aracari and cited the descriptions by earlier ornithologists. He placed it with the toucans in the genus Ramphastos and coined the binomial name Ramphastos torquatus.[6] The specific epithet is a Latin word meaning "collared".[7] When John Gould published a hand-coloured illustration of the collared aracari in 1854 he commented: "We find in the writings of the older authors — Gmelin, Latham, and others — a species of this family called Ramphastos torquatus, which may have been intended to indicate the present bird, but their descriptions and measurements are somewhat inapplicable; at the same time it is the only species yet discovered having a distinct reddish collar at the back of the neck, and there is no other bird which agrees so well with their obscure descriptions".[8] The type location has been restricted to the state of Veracruz in southeast Mexico.[9] The collared aracari is now one of 14 species placed in the genus Pteroglossus that was introduced in 1811 by Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger.[10][11]
The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) recognize three subspecies:[11][12]
The South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society and the Clements taxonomy include two other subspecies that IOC and HBW separate as the stripe-billed aracari (P. sanguineus) and pale-mandibled aracari (P. erythropygius).[14][15][11][12]
This article follows the IOC/HBW three-subspecies model.
Like other toucans, the collared aracari is brightly marked and has a large bill. Adults are 38 to 41 cm (15 to 16 in) long and weigh 175 to 250 g (6.2 to 8.8 oz). Males and females have the same coloration of the bill and plumage but the female's bill is shorter than the male's. The three subspecies' bills are alike. The adult's bill has a narrow vertical white line at its base. Its maxilla is buffy white darkening to dull reddish brown at its base. Its tip and culmen are black. The maxilla has black and yellowish white notches. The bill's mandible is black. Adults of the nominate subspecies have mostly glossy black upperparts with a narrow cinnamon rufous collar at the base of the nape and bright red lower back, rump, and uppertail coverts. Their head, throat, and uppermost breast are greenish black. Their lower breast, belly, and undertail coverts are yellow. The breast has a variable red wash and a black spot in its center; the upper belly is crossed by a narrow red and black band. Their thighs are cinnamon to rufous. Juvenile collared aracaris are much duller than adults, with a sooty-black head and chest and brownish olive upperparts. The red rump and yellow underparts are paler, and the breast spot, belly band, and bill pattern are indistinct.[13]
Subspecies P. t. erythrozonus is similar to the nominate but smaller and has a much smaller breast spot or none at all. P. t. nuchalis is also similar to the nominate, but its breast spot is usually larger and the white basal line on the bill is wider.[13]
The most common call is described as "a high, sharp, squeaky, note, such as seek, pseek, pink or penk, or a two-parted pi-cheet or squi-zeek." They also make a "purr" and an "“aggressive, rasping grhhrr". A rattle call "bddddddt" may actually be non-vocal. Collared aracari's wings make an audible whir during flight.[13]
The subspecies of collared aracari are found thus:[11][13]
The collared aracari inhabits the interior and edges of evergreen primary forest and mature secondary forest and also coffee, cacao, and fruit plantations. In the semi-arid parts of northern Colombia and Venezuela it also occurs in gallery forest. In elevation it is found from sea level to about 1,000 m (3,300 ft).[13]
Collared aracaris typically travel in groups of about six to 15 individuals that sometimes include other toucan species. They also roost communally; up to seven may occupy a cavity overnight.[13]
The collared aracari's diet is mostly fruit but it also feeds on large insects, the eggs and nestlings of other birds, and other small vertebrates. It mostly forages from the forest's mid level to the canopy but will feed on fruits in the understory. They glean fruit by stretching from a perch, bending, and even hanging upside down. They regurgitate large fruit seeds which often remain viable.[13]
The collared aracari's breeding season is from January to May in most of its range. It nests in tree cavities, usually those excavated by large woodpeckers but also natural ones. They may enlarge the cavity, which can be up to 30 m (98 ft) above the ground. The clutch size is usually three eggs but can be as large as five. The incubation period is 16 to 17 days and both parents incubate. Fledging occurs 26 to 30 days after hatch. The parents and often up to three other adults provision the nestlings. They are fed mostly with insects when young.[13]
The IUCN has assessed the collared aracari as being of Least Concern. It has an extremely large range but an unknown population size that is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified.[1] "[A]lthough it tolerates secondary forest, it nonetheless is very susceptible to deforestation" and is hunted by indigenous peoples.[13]
The collared aracari or collared araçari (Pteroglossus torquatus) is a near-passerine bird in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is found from Mexico to Colombia and Venezuela.
