28-417: (Redirected from Río Dulce ) Dulce River may refer to: Dulce River (Guatemala) Dulce River (Argentina) Other [ edit ] Cricovul Dulce River Izvorul Dulce River See also [ edit ] Dulce (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
56-418: A large natural anchorage. A few houses and a couple of small businesses line the shore. El Golfete is about 16 kilometres (10 mi) long and a few kilometres wide. From El Golfete the river meanders for 10 kilometres (6 mi) in a spectacular gorge . The sides of the gorge rise up to 91 metres (300 ft) on either side and are covered with teak , mahogany and palms . Wild flowers bloom throughout
84-673: A particularly large fruiting tree. Toucans often spend time sparring with their bills, tag-chasing, and calling during the long time it takes for fruit to digest. These behaviours may be related to maintenance of the pair bond or establishing dominance hierarchies, but the time required to digest fruit, which can be up to 75 minutes and during which the toucan can not feed, provides this time for socializing. Toucans are primarily frugivorous (fruit eating), but are opportunistically omnivorous and will take prey such as insects , smaller birds , and small lizards . Captive toucans have been reported to hunt insects actively in their cages, and it
112-624: A toucan is the mascot of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party ; its party members are called tucanos for this reason. Toucans have also been used in popular media. They have been used as the principal characters in Toucan Tecs , a 1992 UK television cartoon about two detectives named Zippi and Zac. In Dora the Explorer , the character Señor Túcan is a Spanish-speaking toucan who occasionally gives Dora and her friends advice. Tuca,
140-599: Is a river in Guatemala , completely contained within the department of Izabal . It is part of a lake and river system that has become a popular cruising sailboat destination. The river begins at the point where it flows out of Lake Izabal . At the entrance to the river there is a small Spanish colonial fort, the Castillo de San Felipe de Lara , built to stop pirates entering the lake from the Caribbean when this part of Central America
168-523: Is derived from the Tupi word tukana or the Guaraní word tukã , via Portuguese . The family includes toucans, aracaris and toucanets; more distant relatives include various families of barbets and woodpeckers in the suborder Pici . The phylogenetic relationship between the toucans and the eight other families in the order Piciformes is shown in the cladogram below. The number of species in each family
196-424: Is known that they eat mostly fruit. Researchers have discovered that the large bill of the toucan is a highly efficient thermoregulation system, though its size may still be advantageous in other ways. It does aid in their feeding behavior (as they sit in one spot and reach for all fruit in range, thereby reducing energy expenditure), and it has also been theorized that the bill may intimidate smaller birds, so that
224-572: Is possible to keep toucans on an insect-only diet. They also plunder nests of smaller birds, taking eggs and nestlings. This probably provides a crucial addition of protein to their diet. Certainly, apart from being systematically predatory as well as frugivorous, like many omnivorous birds, they particularly prefer animal food for feeding their chicks. However, in their range, toucans are the dominant frugivores, and as such, play an extremely important ecological role as vectors for seed dispersal of fruiting trees. Toucans nest in cavities in trees, and
252-656: Is taken from the list maintained by Frank Gill , Pamela C. Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC). Galbulidae – jacamars (18 species) Bucconidae – puffbirds (38 species) Indicatoridae – honeyguides (16 species) Picidae – woodpeckers (240 species) Megalaimidae – Asian barbets (35 species) Lybiidae – African barbets (42 species) Capitonidae – New World barbets (15 species) Semnornithidae – toucan barbets (2 species) Ramphastidae – toucans (43 species) Toucans range in size from
280-523: The lettered aracari ( Pteroglossus inscriptus ), at 130 g (4.6 oz) and 29 cm (11 in), to the toco toucan ( Ramphastos toco ), at 680 g (1.50 lb) and 63 cm (25 in). Their bodies are short (of comparable size to a crow's ) and compact. The tail is rounded and varies in length, from half the length to the whole length of the body. The neck is short and thick. The wings are small, as they are forest-dwelling birds who only need to travel short distances, and are often of about
308-620: The Maya city of Quiriguá —which at the time was placed within UFCO property— and offered their visitors the option to comfortably sail Río Dulce and Lake Izabal to Livingston in one of their steam boats. Here are a few photographs taken from an excursion made in 1927 by the Guatemalan History and Geography Society: Izabal excursion in 1927 Toucan Toucans ( / ˈ t uː k æ n / , UK : /- k ə n / ) are Neotropical birds in
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#1733085663527336-484: The West Indies. The only non-forest living toucan is the toco toucan, which is found in savannah with forest patches and open woodlands. Toucans are highly social and most species occur in groups of up to 20 or more birds for most of the time. Pairs may retire from the groups during the breeding season, then return with their offspring after the breeding season. Larger groups may form during irruptions, migration or around
364-527: The bills of female toucans are usually shorter, deeper and sometimes straighter, giving more of a "blocky" impression compared to male bills. The feathers in the genus containing the largest toucans are generally purple, with touches of white, yellow, and scarlet, and black. The underparts of the araçaris (smaller toucans) are yellow, crossed by one or more black or red bands. The toucanets have mostly green plumage with blue markings. The colorful and large bill , which in some large species measures more than half
392-443: The eggs hatch, the young emerge completely naked, without any down . Toucans are resident breeders and do not migrate . Toucans are usually found in pairs or small flocks. They sometimes fence with their bills and wrestle, which scientists hypothesize they do to establish dominance hierarchies. In Africa and Asia , hornbills occupy the toucans' ecological niche , an example of convergent evolution . The name of this bird group
420-521: The family Ramphastidae . The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the Toucan barbets . They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills . The family includes five genera and over 40 different species . Toucans are arboreal and typically lay two to four white eggs in their nests. They make their nests in tree hollows and holes excavated by other animals such as woodpeckers —the toucan bill has very limited use as an excavation tool. When
448-486: The family. The constellation Tucana , containing most of the Small Magellanic Cloud , is named after the toucan. The family has been used prominently in advertising. During the 1930s and 1940s Guinness beer advertising featured a toucan, as the black and white appearance of the bird mirrored the stout. A cartoon toucan, Toucan Sam , has been used as the mascot of Froot Loops breakfast cereal since 1963, and
476-657: The foliage and howler monkeys and toucans can be seen. Waterfalls flow over the lip of the gorge after rainfall. The river enters the Caribbean Sea near the Garifuna town of Livingston . The Río Dulce National Park is in the department of Izabal in Guatemala . The park covers an area of 130 square kilometres (50 sq mi) along the banks of the Dulce river and the El Golfete . The film The New Adventures of Tarzan
504-406: The length of the body, is the hallmark of toucans. Despite its size, the toucan's bill is very light, being composed of bone struts filled with spongy tissue of keratin between them, which take on the structure of a biofoam . The bill has forward-facing serrations resembling teeth, which historically led naturalists to believe that toucans captured fish and were primarily carnivorous; today it
532-521: The lowland tropics, but the mountain species from the genus Andigena reach temperate climates at high altitudes in the Andes and can be found up to the tree line . For the most part the toucans are forest species, and restricted to primary forests . They will enter secondary forests to forage, but are limited to forests with large old trees that have holes large enough to breed in. Toucans are poor dispersers, particularly across water, and have not reached
560-565: The modification of several tail vertebrae . The rear three vertebrae are fused and attached to the spine by a ball and socket joint . Because of this, toucans may snap their tail forward until it touches the head. This is the posture in which they sleep, often appearing simply as a ball of feathers, with the tip of the tail sticking out over the head. Toucans are native to the Neotropics, from Southern Mexico, through Central America, into South America south to northern Argentina. They mostly live in
588-407: The most popular and well known birds in the world. Across their native range they were hunted for food and also kept as pets, and their plumage and bills were used for decorations. In some places anyone that discovers a nest is deemed its owner and is entitled to sell the birds within. In the western world they were first popularised by John Gould , who devoted two editions to a detailed monograph of
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#1733085663527616-404: The other side is the town of El Relleno. Nearby is the children's village of Casa Guatemala , an orphanage that houses roughly 250 children and provides them with education and nourishment. From Fronteras the river flows east for a few kilometres. Along this stretch, there are several marinas and resorts. The river then flows into a long narrow lake called El Golfete . This lake has an island and
644-515: The presence of suitable trees is a habitat prerequisite for toucans. For the most part toucans don't excavate nesting cavities, although some green toucanets do. Toucans make a variety of sounds. The very name of the bird (from Tupi ) refers to its predominant frog-like croaking call, but toucans also make barking and growling sounds. They also use their bills to make tapping and clattering sounds. Mountain toucans are known for donkey-like braying. The toucans are, due to their unique appearance, among
672-415: The same span as the bill-tip-to-tail-tip measurements of the bird. The legs of the toucan are strong and rather short. Their toes are arranged in pairs with the first and fourth toes turned backward. The majority of toucans do not show any sexual dimorphism in their coloration, the genus Selenidera being the most notable exception to this rule (hence their common name, "dichromatic toucanets"). However,
700-522: The title Dulce River . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dulce_River&oldid=932802909 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Dulce River (Guatemala) Dulce River ( Spanish : Río Dulce , or "Sweet River")
728-434: The toucan may plunder nests undisturbed (see Diet below). The beak allows the bird to reach deep into tree-holes to access food unavailable to other birds, and also to ransack suspended nests built by smaller birds. A toucan's tongue is long (up to 15 cm or 6 in), narrow, grey, and singularly frayed on each side, adding to its sensitivity as a tasting organ. A structural complex probably unique to toucans involves
756-587: Was an important shipping staging point. Just after the river flows from Lake Izabal it is spanned by one of the biggest bridges in Central America. On one side of the bridge is the town of Fronteras, commonly referred to by the name Río Dulce, the local center of commerce for the area. Fronteras has a local vegetable market, attracting locals from the countryside who arrive in dugout canoes. Most of these boats are powered with Japanese outboard motors but many come to market day paddling these cayucos by hand. On
784-660: Was filmed entirely on location in Guatemala in 1935. They reached some locations using the railroad service in Guatemala, which was controlled by the American International Railways of Central America (IRCA), owned by the United Fruit Company — and had major stations at Puerto San José , Guatemala City and Puerto Barrios . The railroad company offered tours to visit the UFCO banana plantations in Izabal and
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