Black-mandibled Toucan

The Black-mandibled Toucan (Ramphastos ambiguus) is a large toucan from northern South America. Its distribution ranges along the eastern slope of the Andes from Peru, north through Ecuador and Colombia, to Venezuela as far as the coastal ranges.

It lives at altitudes of 100-2400 m. in humid montane forests, with a preference for the canopy and edge. It generally occurs at higher elevations (generally above 1000 m) than other Ramphastos toucans and competes directly with the similarly-sized White-throated Toucan where they overlap. Black-mandibleds are most common in areas where White-throateds are rare, and vica versa.

The Black-mandibled Toucan at one time was considered closely related to the Choco Toucan but is only distantly related per genetics. However, it is considered very closely related to the Chestnut-mandibled Toucan and the two are sometimes considered conspecific. The Black-mandibled and Chestnut-mandibled do not overlap in the wild and are found to differ 1.35% in mitochondrial DNA.

This species has a total length of 47-61 cm (19-24 in) and weighs from 620 to 740 grams (1.4-1.6 lbs).^[1] The beak measures approximately 18 cm. Little to nothing is known about the Black-mandibled Toucan's behavior or life history but it is generally predicted to mirror that of the Chestnut-mandibled Toucan.

References

External links

• Bibliography of online, ornithological articles which explore the natural history of the Black-mandibled toucan, Ramphastos ambiguus ambiguus.
• "Ramphastos ambiguus" videos on the Internet Bird Collection
• [1] on Neotropic Birds