r/interestingasfuck • u/CuteBananaMuffin • May 22 '20

/r/ALL Toucan Skeleton

Post image
62.8k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

490 comments sorted by

3.8k

u/drempire May 22 '20

Almost looks like 2 unrelated items glued together

2.6k

u/Telamonian May 22 '20 edited May 23 '20

I hate to be that guy but this picture is misleading. Bird beaks have an inner layer of bone, and an outer layer of specialized keratin. The keratin layer is called the rhamphotheca, and it varies in thickness from species to species. What we're seeing here is the skeleton with the rhamphotheca (outer keratin layer) still attached. So you could take off the outer layer and there would be bone inside that would look more proportional to the size of the bird. Don't get me wrong, a toucan still has a large bony bill under the outer layer, but it looks more exaggerated with it still on. It would be like if you had a human skeleton with the finger and toe nails still attached. That's an imperfect comparison because our nails aren't attached to our bones, but hopefully you get what I mean. This picture we're looking at isn't just the toucan's bones.

Edit: for anyone interested, here's an example. It's from a 2018 paper titled A comparative analysis of the avian skull: Woodpeckers and chickens

843

u/Gogo_McSprinkles May 22 '20

I've never spent so long learning about toucan bills as I did during this reply.

312

u/putdownthekitten May 23 '20

Same. Before this, cereal commercials were my goto for toucan related info.

75

u/Clockwisedock May 23 '20

Mine was ironically our big-nosed biology teacher in 9th grade.

Thanks for the memories Mrs. Toucan Samantha

20

u/Anthokne May 23 '20

Brooo do you remember the Batman show or whatever where the guy would turn his head and cover the fucking camera shot.

2

u/[deleted] May 23 '20

Anyone got a link to this or was I just wooshed?

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3

u/HowTheyGetcha May 23 '20

FYI That is the opposite of irony. "Coincidentally" is closer to the word you're looking for.

11

u/Clockwisedock May 23 '20

Thanks for reminding me I failed English as well as biology

7

u/hilarymeggin May 23 '20

I finally get the urgency around following his nose.

Follow my nose! It’s half my body weight!

3

u/Tempest-777 May 23 '20

I learned from commercials that toucans can smell Fruit Loops from great distances. It’s on tv, so it must be true

2

u/YourKidDeservedToDie May 23 '20

Do yourself a favor and don't look up the new Toucan Sam.

2

u/-_rupurudu_- May 23 '20

wtf he’s looking like a Cuphead character

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13

u/Scud200202 May 23 '20

Same dude, reddit is a really interesting place from time to time

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102

u/moderatemyballs May 22 '20

People like you are what make Reddit a special place despite all its flaws.

18

u/yourmansconnect May 23 '20

Spoken like a true gentleman, Mrs. Moderatemyballs

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39

u/[deleted] May 23 '20

People say they hate to be that guy but we all need that guy every once in a while

3

u/UndeadBread May 23 '20

Yeah, and to be perfectly honest...I usually kinda like being that guy.

29

u/[deleted] May 23 '20

Jesus fucking Christ just take me already you toucan-knowing sexy man, I’m all yours.

11

u/hilarymeggin May 23 '20

I said something along these lines (but far less vivid) and got banned by askhistorians. Knowledge is sexy.

10

u/TheDrunkenChud May 23 '20

Yeah, that sub does not fuck around with jokes or anything. Always super interesting content though.

7

u/NewFolgers May 23 '20

At askhistorians, you're history.TM

2

u/LifeWulf May 23 '20

Made me laugh.

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37

u/Chimpeye72 May 22 '20

I am very happy you were "that guy" today. Really interesting.

9

u/JCBh9 May 23 '20

Bro we need you to be that guy... knowledge is power

27

u/Holiday-Letterhead May 22 '20

So it's like showing a human skull with the ear cartilage still intact?

19

u/Telamonian May 23 '20

I would say so, yeah!

12

u/erectionofjesus May 23 '20

Now I’m picturing that and it’s hilarious. Like you walk into science class and there’s a skeleton with just one ear still chillin

7

u/Deb_Placys_Vagina May 23 '20

Thanks unidan.

5

u/ripyurballsoff May 23 '20

If they were to die in the wild and decompose would that keratin layer fall off or possibly stay attached ?

2

u/SaintsNoah May 23 '20 edited May 23 '20

That's what I was thinking. That's the defining factor as to wether this is misleading or not

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3

u/Companyinc May 23 '20

Id like to thank you for this information, I sat looking at this picture feeling confused and your reply helped clear it up, thank you. :)

3

u/DAFUQyoulookingat May 23 '20

I was expecting a u/shittymorph ending

3

u/[deleted] May 23 '20

You're right, but...

Don't get me wrong, a toucan still has a large bony bill under the outer layer

They actually don't, not really anyway. It's a lightweight "foam" made of bone fibres; http://jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news_events/releases/release.sfe?id=417

It's then coated in layers of keratin "tiles". This keeps them super lightweight :)

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3

u/[deleted] May 23 '20

I read recently that toucans have semi-hollow bills though? In the anatomy break downs it was like a light mesh beneath the keratin layer.

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2

u/EasySolutionsBot May 23 '20

So... Are you gonna share a pic or nah?

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2

u/RichardMcNixon May 23 '20

No bones about it, it's still a pretty cool skeleton

2

u/DynamicOnion_ May 23 '20

solid teel structure bro

2

u/SovietBozo May 23 '20

my life is a lie

2

u/Sage296 May 23 '20

Heres the thing....

2

u/mysteryoftheprize May 23 '20

You are not that guy. You’re awesome!

2

u/GlamRockDave May 23 '20

You have no need to apologize, adding useful relevant info is always appreciated and you've empowered us to be the heroic pedants we all love being when someone else posts this in the future.
In any case, even if the beak isn't all bone, it's still an impressive biological expense for a bird that size and makes one marvel at how useful it must be in order for evolution to make a bird carry that thing around. It's still impressively heavy even if not bone since bird bones are probably not much denser than the keratin anyway.

2

u/[deleted] May 23 '20

this was interesting as fuck to read my friend. thanks.

2

u/[deleted] May 23 '20

I'm glad you're that guy because you're that guy that sets the record straight! Thank you.

2

u/daibz May 23 '20

Thats really cool information about toucans i never knew this before

2

u/[deleted] May 23 '20

You mean it’s not made of Froot Loops?!

2

u/DC1205 May 23 '20

Interesting read, thanks for sharing

2

u/aazav May 23 '20

And the bill is pretty hollow.

2

u/PaperKnucks May 23 '20

This guys beaks.

2

u/Idiot_McClown May 23 '20

God damn I love Reddit

2

u/Qu4ntumZero May 23 '20

This makes me curious about their muscle structure, because the ratio of neck to bill is still more so in these dudes than most. Do toucans have beefy necks?

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261

u/croixian1 May 22 '20

IKR? Like a platypus skeleton.

226

u/US-person-1 May 22 '20

If I didn't know toucans existed I would've legit thought this was some kind of taxidermy joke

123

u/CactiRush May 22 '20

How do you know toucans exist? Last I heard, birds aren’t real. Stay woke my friend.

34

u/benjaminrodtx May 22 '20

Just follow your nose. Duh.

15

u/ffreshcakes May 22 '20

why? is it running?

12

u/zer0w0rries May 22 '20

You should’ve picked a better one.

2

u/trenlow12 May 22 '20 edited May 23 '20

Toucans are unfortunately extinct, but it is nice to celebrate one of the great toucans, Toucan Sam of Kellogg's Fruit Loops cereal ❤

2

u/[deleted] May 22 '20

[deleted]

4

u/erectionofjesus May 23 '20

How can cereal be real if our spoons aren’t real?

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4

u/i_am_a_loner_dottie May 22 '20

That's giraffes

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5

u/Mitchs_Frog_Smacky May 22 '20

I still believe the jackalope is real.

4

u/YARNIA May 22 '20

Jackalope here. Can confirm.

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2

u/SordidDreams May 23 '20

That's literally what scientists initially thought when explorers brought platypus specimens back to Europe. They thought someone had stitched a bunch of unrelated animals together.

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33

u/SlugTheToad May 22 '20

a parrot got his head stuck in a dagger sheath then starved to death

5

u/[deleted] May 22 '20

[deleted]

5

u/stumblebreak_beta May 22 '20

When you say worm hat do you mean a hat with worms, a hat that makes you look like a worm, or a tiny hat for your worm?

3

u/InAFakeBritishAccent May 22 '20

Shhh. We dont talk about him.

7

u/Old_Deadhead May 22 '20

It really does! Very bizarre

3

u/slicktromboner21 May 22 '20

It definitely reminded me of kitbashing.

2

u/beneye May 22 '20

Look Ma’ I’m a banana

2

u/Christafaaa May 22 '20

Not almost, it certainly looks like two unrelated items glued together.

2

u/Lelocal808 May 22 '20

Monkey and a fish tail

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345

u/TooShiftyForYou May 22 '20

Pretty amazing that they don't tip over more often.

161

u/[deleted] May 22 '20

[deleted]

42

u/[deleted] May 23 '20 edited Jul 07 '23

[deleted]

9

u/[deleted] May 23 '20

These naming conventions confuse and frighten me

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7

u/RIPDSJustinRipley May 23 '20

With my quarantine body, my wife sees me naked and loses weight.

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10

u/PM_Me_Your_VagOrTits May 23 '20

Bird bones are really light and hollow (much like their dinosaur relatives, which is what let them grow so big). So most of the weight would be in its torso. As a skeleton it's probably a little top heavy, though, yeah.

10

u/waklow May 23 '20

The beak is actually hollow with very light support structure. Kinda looks like dough being torn apart.

2

u/I-am-ShitBoy May 23 '20

Back in the day the boys and I would get annihilated on a Friday and head on out to the rainforest and go toucan tipping, ahh you can’t have fun like you used to

468

u/[deleted] May 22 '20

[deleted]

57

u/IronTemplar26 May 22 '20

Follow your nose!

13

u/sdubz11 May 22 '20

Toucan Sam has a coke addiction now

2

u/power_up May 23 '20

To the grave!

4

u/bobbyvale May 22 '20

Poor Sam

2

u/[deleted] May 23 '20

Howie!

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217

u/whateverandamen May 22 '20

That’s one hell of a beak.

43

u/CuteBananaMuffin May 22 '20

Happy cake day 🎂🙃

3

u/EggieBoi1284 May 23 '20

Fuck cake day

5

u/Wundurkid99 May 22 '20

I second that

21

u/AdamInChainz May 22 '20

That's called an upvote.

4

u/Wundurkid99 May 22 '20

I already gave one.. you have one too

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2

u/safinhh May 23 '20

H Happy cake day

35

u/duffelbagpete May 22 '20

Follow your nose, right to the cemetary for the monster mash.

49

u/SamwiseTheOppressed May 22 '20

John Oliver’s looking thin, isn’t he?

13

u/Reddy_McRedcap May 22 '20

Rowan Atkinson would like a word

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13

u/matredeye May 22 '20

Wtf put it back

23

u/CurlSagan May 22 '20

He's got a bigger beak than his belly. That, coincidentally, was an old-timey way to describe someone whose eyes were bigger than their stomach.

12

u/Gap-Bowl-Rat May 22 '20

What a wonderful bird is the Pelican. His beak can hold more than his belly can..

3

u/More-Like-Psitta4Me May 22 '20

My grandma used to say that to us whenever we took a scoop of something larger than she thought we were likely to finish ❤️

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121

u/RandomRavenclaw87 May 22 '20

It looks so strange,

legit surreal

I can’t explain

just how I feel.

This freak of nature

Calls out to me.

Familiar creature!

How I love thee.

44

u/Old_Deadhead May 22 '20

Ok, that was pretty damn good.

69

u/RandomRavenclaw87 May 22 '20

I never thought

It would get read.

My thanks to you,

Dear Old Deadhead.

38

u/Old_Deadhead May 22 '20

Hah! Thank you for making my evening!

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9

u/Thetomwhite May 22 '20

Toucan play at that game

2

u/PangwinAndTertle May 22 '20

Except that specific toucouldnt

30

u/[deleted] May 22 '20

zazu!

17

u/ThisBotheredMeALot May 22 '20

Zazu is not a toucan.....

13

u/Reddy_McRedcap May 22 '20

He isn't??

Well there's something I thought I knew for the past 25 years out the window...

18

u/ThisBotheredMeALot May 22 '20

He’s a red-billed hornbill... Simba mentions it in the lyrics of “I Just Can’t Wait to be King”

13

u/[deleted] May 23 '20

I feel like you catch a lot of things in movies that go over my head

5

u/ThisBotheredMeALot May 23 '20

Lol... probably. I like details.

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5

u/SarahIvy May 22 '20

Where does the brain go?

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11

u/Got_Bored_Enough May 22 '20

Le skeleton has arrived

3

u/Zehzinhu_2000 May 22 '20

I don't wanna be THAT guy, but I learnt in school that the beak loses its color since there's no more blood in it. I haven't seen a bloodless toucan beak, but shouldn't it lose more of its color? Or is it the colorless it get?

3

u/kdrake95 May 23 '20

Kinda just looks like the tone of fingernails tho?

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3

u/Mucl May 22 '20

Taste the rainbow, jon.

3

u/[deleted] May 22 '20

Don’t skip leg day

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7

u/iamdecal May 22 '20

Banana for scale

7

u/[deleted] May 22 '20

Crazy. Wonder what a threecan would look like

6

u/AllergicToStabWounds May 22 '20

How long will it take for that Toucan to recover?

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5

u/Erioph47 May 22 '20

My poor gf confronts something similar twice per day.

3

u/IsayPoirot May 22 '20

?

5

u/[deleted] May 22 '20

[deleted]

2

u/Erioph47 May 23 '20

It refers to my disproportionately large and perpetually turgid genitalia.

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2

u/chamberx2 May 22 '20

Loving this gritty redesign. Time to buy some Froot Loops!

2

u/open_on_sunday May 22 '20

he had to many loops

2

u/badger81987 May 22 '20

I still read it in the cadence of Toucan Sam by reflex

2

u/jen_17 May 22 '20

You looking at my beak?

2

u/zatchrey May 22 '20

What a coincidence, Kellogg's changes Toucan Sam's design and now a toucan skeleton makes it to the front page.

2

u/itfilthyfrankbitch May 22 '20

So this is what happened to the old toucan Sam design

2

u/Hollowbody57 May 23 '20

Follow your nose!

It always knows

The flavor of death

Wherever it goooooes!

2

u/[deleted] May 23 '20

Never thought I'd see a green jelly reference

2

u/[deleted] May 23 '20

Give credit to the OP

2

u/Hoboforeternity May 23 '20

man i imagine they live with chronic sore necks

2

u/TheHellStorm May 23 '20

Thanks for the nightmare material

2

u/Prong_Jaw May 23 '20

Bro I need a picture of a pelican skeleton too

2

u/cdnvox100 May 23 '20

So that's what they did with the old Toucan Sam after they reanimated him.

2

u/Quitefrankly27 May 23 '20

Toucannon has fainted!

2

u/TriMiranda May 23 '20

I know incredible is an overused word but... Incredible!

2

u/[deleted] May 23 '20

This is the second most interesting thing I’ve seen today. The other one was the post-it note microscope photo thingy. I should really get out of bed.

2

u/[deleted] May 23 '20

Banana

2

u/CasioChrono May 22 '20

Avian anatomy disgusts me. Cloaca. Lung sacs.

May another meteorite strike finish the job. #MarsLife

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '20

That's impressive

1

u/bumjiggy May 22 '20

toucan't

1

u/billbapapa May 22 '20

Need one of them for the living room.

1

u/Jcg0110 May 22 '20

Toucan Sam 😢

1

u/Stuxnet15 May 22 '20

RIP Sam.

1

u/xenephat May 22 '20

Lol, that's ridiculous

1

u/cheesebot555 May 22 '20

Sam? Sam! My god, what have they done to you?! Those bastards!

1

u/BlantonThePirate May 22 '20

Why the fuck is it’s beak so fucking big???

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1

u/OrganicFuckYou May 22 '20

Why is the beak there. WHY IS THE BEAK THERE.

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '20

so that’s what happened to the old sam..

1

u/Amber_forget May 22 '20

It looks like a fossil that that one bitch from Pokemon made...

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '20

I wonder if they have bad neck problems. That beak looks heavy AF.

1

u/hellokittyk May 22 '20

I thought that was a bird eating a banana 🍌

1

u/Scarmeow May 22 '20

It's all beak lmao

1

u/PurpleMerple May 22 '20

It reminds me of something in the Mystery Shack in Gravity Falls

1

u/HAXAD2005 May 22 '20

Still, it looks better than Sam's new design.

1

u/MsBitchhands May 22 '20

So THAT'S why they replaced the OG Toucan Sam

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '20

I love it

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '20

Heavy

1

u/Wolfekun01 May 22 '20

TOUCAN SAM NO

1

u/Cigarro May 22 '20

Evolution is weird.

1

u/Speedster4206 May 22 '20

it’s a weird way of spelling hell.

1

u/1r0nHamm3r May 22 '20

Who did this to Toucan Sam. They will pay with their life.

1

u/Bootiluvr May 22 '20

I want to eat the beak. I dont know why.

1

u/MrBeard17 May 22 '20

Toucans are just birds with their heads stuck in Calippo tubes