1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,400 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:11,560 Speaker 1: Laura vobl bum Here A two can sam that bird 3 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: with the horn shaped, rainbow striped bill on the fruit 4 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:18,280 Speaker 1: Loops Cereal box made the two can recognizable to generations 5 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: of people who have never even been to the neotropics. 6 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:24,960 Speaker 1: Due to their undeniable graphic appeal. Two cans have been 7 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:27,680 Speaker 1: used to promote everything from Guinness beer in the nineteen 8 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:31,200 Speaker 1: thirties to the Brazilian Social Democracy Party in the nineteen eighties. 9 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:34,960 Speaker 1: But two cans in actuality don't have anything to do 10 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:39,559 Speaker 1: with beer, democracy or loops, though they definitely concern themselves 11 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: with fruit. Twocns are a group of social birds native 12 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:47,040 Speaker 1: to Central and South America. They spend their days doing 13 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:50,239 Speaker 1: what any good fruit vore does, dispersing the seeds of 14 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 1: the plants whose fruits they eat. The smallest Tucan species 15 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:56,560 Speaker 1: is only about eleven inches or twenty eight centimeters tall 16 00:00:56,760 --> 00:00:58,640 Speaker 1: and weighs only about four and a half ounces or 17 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:01,600 Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty grams, while the largest is nearly 18 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 1: three times as tall and six times is heavy. There 19 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:08,280 Speaker 1: are over forty two canned species, but what they have 20 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 1: in common is their preference for their home turf. Twucans 21 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:13,920 Speaker 1: do not migrate, their habit of making nests in the 22 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,760 Speaker 1: hollow cavities of trees, and of course, their long and 23 00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:22,040 Speaker 1: often colorful bills. Those bills are made of caraten like 24 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:26,480 Speaker 1: human hair, only it's organized in a stiff, lightweight honeycomb structure, 25 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:29,480 Speaker 1: and depending on the species, their bills can come in 26 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: patterns of every color and spectrum, from blues and greens, 27 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:38,440 Speaker 1: through yellows and oranges to reds and purples. For the article, 28 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: this episode is based on How Stuffworks. Spoke by email 29 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 1: with Thomas Schulenberg, who studies neotropical birds at the Cornell 30 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:48,960 Speaker 1: Lab of Ornithology. He explained Tucans use their bills to 31 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: do all the things that any bird would do, but 32 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 1: perhaps the most important function is to grab food. The 33 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 1: Tucans are primarily frugivorous, so that means they are using 34 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 1: the bill to snag fruit. Much of the fruit that 35 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:03,560 Speaker 1: they eat can be swallowed in a single gulp. The 36 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:05,760 Speaker 1: bird grabs something with the tip of its bill, then 37 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:09,119 Speaker 1: tosses it towards the back of the throat and swallows two. 38 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:11,640 Speaker 1: Cans also capture and eat small vertebrates when they find 39 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:14,400 Speaker 1: them of mostly small lizards and frogs, and the eggs 40 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:18,120 Speaker 1: and nestlings of smaller birds. Aside from feeding, twocans use 41 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: the bill to preen the plumage, just like any other bird. 42 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:26,200 Speaker 1: Of course, a bird doesn't need a bill as splendid 43 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:29,400 Speaker 1: as a twucans to eat fruit. Many other avian frugivores 44 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:33,120 Speaker 1: have substantially smaller bills, so it must be that the 45 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:35,920 Speaker 1: bill of the two cans serves some other rolls aside 46 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:39,360 Speaker 1: from chowing down. In many two can species, the bill 47 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:42,560 Speaker 1: and head are indeed used in displays that is a 48 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:47,640 Speaker 1: communications with their own kind. Schulenberg said. The larger species 49 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:50,720 Speaker 1: of tucans, the genus Rimfastus, the model for the fruit 50 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:53,960 Speaker 1: loops icon, often perch on exposed sites in the canopy 51 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:56,960 Speaker 1: and call while throwing the head back and swinging it 52 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: from side to side. And in all species, the bill 53 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:02,480 Speaker 1: of the male is significantly longer than the bill of 54 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:06,120 Speaker 1: the female, So presumably the size of the twuocan bill 55 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:09,080 Speaker 1: owes as much or more to sexual selection as it 56 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:14,400 Speaker 1: does to any functional requirement. Twuocan's bills might also be 57 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: useful for shedding excess heat. A study published in Science 58 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:21,400 Speaker 1: magazine in two thousand and nine suggested that given the 59 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:24,080 Speaker 1: surface area of the bill, which accounts for between thirty 60 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:27,519 Speaker 1: and fifty percent of the bird's entire body, a twocan's 61 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:30,800 Speaker 1: beak receives a lot of blood, which can serve as 62 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 1: a good tool for thermal exchange. Schulenberg said there's a 63 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:38,280 Speaker 1: growing awareness now that the bill serves a similar function 64 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:43,440 Speaker 1: even in species with much smaller bills, such as sparrows. 65 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 1: Since tucans don't migrate, you don't find two can species 66 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:50,480 Speaker 1: anywhere other than their native range, unless, of course, they 67 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:54,760 Speaker 1: were brought somewhere through the exotic pet trade. However, twucans 68 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:57,160 Speaker 1: bear a striking resemblance to a type of bird found 69 00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:01,160 Speaker 1: in subtropical Africa and Asia called a hornbill. Both are 70 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:05,720 Speaker 1: large birds with a large, long, colorful bill. Superficially very similar, 71 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 1: but they're not related to one another basically at all. 72 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:12,560 Speaker 1: Schulenberg said. The two canon hornbill branches of the bird 73 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 1: world diverged from each other around fifty two to fifty 74 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:18,800 Speaker 1: five million years ago, so they've each been going their 75 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:22,839 Speaker 1: own way for a long long time. Any similarities between 76 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: them are the result of convergent evolution. The independent acquisition 77 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:31,600 Speaker 1: of similar traits or behaviors. And yes, although you do 78 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:34,040 Speaker 1: have to be in the neotropics to see a wild 79 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:37,480 Speaker 1: two can, some people do keep them as pets. They're 80 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:40,599 Speaker 1: not legal in every country or even in every US state, 81 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:43,599 Speaker 1: but can be kept in some places with a special 82 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:47,840 Speaker 1: license or a zoological certificate. Two cans are active and 83 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 1: time consuming pets, expensive due to their need for a 84 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:54,080 Speaker 1: constant supply of fresh fruit, and are long lived. A 85 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:56,679 Speaker 1: two can in captivity lives an average of around twenty 86 00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:00,760 Speaker 1: to twenty five years. Also, they are wild animals that 87 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:03,560 Speaker 1: haven't had generations to get used to cohabiting with humans. 88 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:07,359 Speaker 1: Twocan whose hormones are telling him to perform a raucous 89 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: mating display in your kitchen might be something you'd just 90 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:13,040 Speaker 1: have to get used to, which is much more challenging 91 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:15,680 Speaker 1: and difficult to train away than a dog that gets 92 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:23,000 Speaker 1: up too early on a Saturday morning. Today's episode is 93 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:25,200 Speaker 1: based on the article the two can is Far more 94 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:27,600 Speaker 1: than the fruit Loops mascot on how stuffworks dot Com, 95 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:30,839 Speaker 1: written by Jesslyn Shields. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio 96 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:33,240 Speaker 1: in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com and is produced 97 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:36,599 Speaker 1: by Tyler Klang. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit 98 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:39,560 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 99 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:40,479 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.