"Does your toucan talk?" is one of the top questions I get asked by strangers. Clearly Froot Loops created a fake news issue surrounding Toucan Sam's ability to talk, and toucan owners everywhere are paying the price! So, based on questions I wish I'd had easy answers to when I first researched getting Chester, I developed the below list of differences between parrots and toucans. If you disagree with any of the below or have information to add, please send me a message! I'm constantly learning more and want to provide as much informative information as possible.
Noise Level
Birds are known for being noisy--especially pet birds! But the difference between a pet toucan and a parrot are significant. Many parrots have a higher decibel scream or squawk than toucans. Parrots enjoy screaming for "fun" and making noise to get attention. Toucans tend to be quieter and only squawk when they are looking for their owner, alerting of danger, or expressing an emotion. They don't scream for fun like parrots. As someone who's spent a lot of time around a variety of parrots, I was shocked how quiet my pet toucan, Chester, is throughout the day. That's not to say it's a walk in the park, but a pet toucan is certainly significantly quieter than a parrot. Click here to watch a video of Chester and my sister "arguing."
Beak Strength
Toucans only eat fruit, low-iron pellets and occasionally protein sources. On the other hand, larger parrots have beaks made for cracking nuts. This means that the beak and pressure strength of toucans is weaker than parrots because they don't need to crack nuts. My aracari, Chester, bites me throughout the day and it doesn't really affect me. However, bites from parrots are usually very painful! The Facebook group Bite Club is great for seeing a variety of pet bird bites. You can watch a video of Chester biting me here.
Play & Dancing
I've noticed that toucans aren't playful in the same way that parrots are. Toucans aren't phased by music, don't dance to the beats, don't bounce around and bob their head out of excitement, etc. However, they are equally as mischievous as parrots! They love to steal their owner's items, make a mess and have enriching games/interaction. I often play catch with my pet toucan or do target training. I also let him think he's not allowed to have certain items, as it brings him great joy to know he stole something he's not supposed to have. But, in comparison to parrots, my toucan doesn't like music, beats, singing (maybe just my singing), dancing or clapping. Some of my favorite videos of parrot behavior include a cockatoo dancing to an Elvis Presley song, an African Grey talking to Amazon Alexa, and a cockatoo screaming into a cup and causing chaos.
Training
Toucans have very short attention spans, so training is much more difficult than parrots. I usually have to take away all possible distractions and withhold food for about an hour to incentivize him to pay attention and work on our training. In my experience, toucans can't (or won't) do as many tricks as parrots. I got Chester when he was 4 years old, so perhaps he would have more potential for training if I had him as a baby, but I doubt it would ever come close to what parrots can learn to do! I see parrots as similar to dogs: they find joy in getting things "right" and being praised by their owners. Toucans feel a bit of this, but not to the same extent, so they don't have the same incentive to learn tricks.
Tongues & Speech
Parrots' tongues are made of muscle similar to humans, so they have the ability to talk. However, toucans tongues look very different. They resemble a slim feather. Toucans' tongues are very fragile and break off easily. Luckily, their tongues regenerate! Also, toucans' tongues are the entire length of their beak. Take a look at the photo!
Diet
Parrots have much more variety in their diet. They may eat protein, seeds, fruit, nuts, dried fruit, etc. Toucans, on the other hand, have expensive diets due to the majority of their daily intake coming from fresh fruit. Fresh foods toucans eat include papaya, pomegranate, mango, blueberries, strawberries, kiwi, dragon fruit, raspberries, blackberries, cherries, banana, cucumbers and grapes. The vet has recommended I not give Chester any protein due to cholesterol, but I know some owners give their toucans live mealworms as a treat. I think I need to invest in a mini fridge before I'm willing to buy live worms for Chester. Another important factor in toucan diets: low iron. This includes feeding them a low-iron pellet (I use Mazuri) and avoiding fruits such as citrus (grapefruit, orange, lime, lemon) and high vitamin C (pineapple) which impede a toucan's ability to store iron. Iron storage disease is the number one health issue for toucans. Larger toucans can end up with diabetes and need to be monitored for this as well. Bird Tricks on YouTube goes through an emotional rollercoaster with some very educational, informative signs of diabetes in toucans.
Mental Health Issues & Plucking
Parrots are known for plucking in captivity due to a lack of enriching activities, attention, and/or poor living quality such as a small cage, unhealthy or stressful environment, or owner neglect. Unfortunately, this issue is incredibly common. Parrot owners will get a pet bird thinking it will be fun, then they realize the bird is either too difficult to take care of, too loud or they simply don't have enough time to provide the bird with the right amount of mental stimulus. This creates a huge mental health problem for parrots, which often results in "plucking." Parrots will pluck their feathers as a form of self harm due to stress, anxiety or depression. Then, because the parrots are now "ugly" and bald, owners will give the bird up to a parrot rescue to take care of them. Due to parrots' long lifespans of 80+ years, it's very common for a pet parrot to have five or more owners in its lifetime. This is incredibly sad and painful to see happen so frequently. There aren't enough parrot rescues or funding to properly give all these abandoned parrots homes.
On the flip side, there isn't much data out there about toucans plucking. They require the same amount of stimulus and enriching activities as parrots, but there aren't really any reported cases of plucking. This isn't to say it's impossible, as it may just be that there aren't as many pet toucans out there and therefore less data. In my experience, when I first got Chester from the bird store (where he had a year long traumatic experience) he had no tail feathers and he had lesions on his feet. It's possible he was plucking his tail feathers out, but I have no way of knowing what happened to him during that year in the bird store. I am happy to say he hasn't pulled any feathers out since I adopted him!
Sleep
Pet birds, both parrots and toucans, need a lot of sleep. Ideally 10-12 hours a night. Many owners put their birds to bed at night by covering their cages. However, the type of toucan I own is an aracari. Aracaris are known for nesting in small cavities such as hollow dead tree trunks. Because of this, their instinct is to sleep or nest in a small cavity. Throughout the day, Chester tries to get into my shirt neck hole to take a little nap. If he naps standing up, he will either perch in his cage with one leg up (which is how parrots sleep) or he will fold himself in half, tucking his beak into his back, and sleep standing up on both flat feet. My night time routine with Chester is based on what I learned from other aracari owners. They enjoy going to bed in some sort of a "nest" similar to a rabbit hut or cat bed. I have three "nests" for Chester of varying sizes. At night, he goes to bed by putting himself in his nest on my bedroom dresser and I go to sleep facing him in my bed. He wakes up in the morning, hops out of the nest, and perches on a nearby perch. If I am sleeping in or hungover and don't wake up early enough, he will fly onto my head and nibble on my face to try to wake me up. Overall he is very quiet in the morning and doesn't bother me. We typically go to sleep and wake up together. Click here to watch a video of Chester going into his various nests.
NOTE: Never sleep with an aracari in close proximity such as in your bed or on the couch. Many aracari owners have horror stories of rolling over and killing their aracaris by accident. It's not worth the risk.
Poops & Destruction
Because toucans' beaks don't have the same level of strength as parrots, they cannot be as destructive with chewing. For example, when I fostered a macaw, he chewed a chunk out of my mom's door and one of her dining chairs. He also chewed through my Nest Cam's wire and killed the signal. My toucan's beak-related destruction is limited to chewing up my plants. Remember though, that my toucan is a small aracari, so it's possible bigger toucans may be more destructive. Would love any input from toco/keel-billed toucan owners!
Now, that's only beak destruction. Let's talk about bird poop. When you typically think of bird poop, you may think of what shows up on your car. A white or brown pasty substance. This is similar to what you'll see with parrots. Toucan poop is a whole other story! This is by far their most destructive quality. Any coworkers, friends or significant others who have spent time around my aracari, Chester, knows just how bad it is.
Toucans get most of their water from their fresh fruit diet. This means that they're constantly eating a variety of fruits. And they poop out what they ate about 15-20 mins later. So, that isn't much time for the fruit to digest in their bodies. What do you think a blueberry looks like when it's only been inside a toucan's body for 15 mins? Probably not too dissimilar from a blueberry. Chester's poops are the color of whatever he ate. So, a blueberry poop stains like blueberry compote you'd eat on top of pancakes. His red dragon fruit, pomegranate, strawberry, cherry and raspberry poops come out a deep red. Toucan owners have to be very careful about what surfaces their toucans are on, as the poops stain almost instantly!
Parrots poop every 15-30 minutes. Toucans poop every 5 minutes, if not more. So that's a lot of potential damage a toucan blueberry binge can do to your home. Did you know that toucans can projectile poop sideways or upside down? Take a look at the blueberry poop on my ceiling if you need some proof. Overall, I definitely think toucan poop is a lot worse to deal with than parrot poop. However, I think the poop itself is less "gross" since it's barely spent any time inside the bird's tiny little body. It's mostly just fruit and water that comes out. The only bad sulfur smelling poop is the first big "morning poop" a bird does after a night of holding it in to sleep. Ok, that's enough poop talk.
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