Toucans are primarily fruit-eaters, preferring the darkest, so ripest, fruit. Their long bill allows them to perch on heavier, stable branches and reach a distance for hanging fruits. They snip the fruit off, hold it at the tip of the bill, and then, with a forward flip of the head, toss the fruit into the air and into their throats. Toucans also increase their protein intake by consuming the occasional insect, spider, or small reptile, or even bird eggs or nestlings. Sometimes individual fruit trees are defended by a mated toucan pair from other toucans or from other frugivorous birds - defended by threat displays and even, against other toucans, by bill clashes.
Breeding is during the dry season.
Both sexes incubate and feed the 2 to 4 young. Toucans are apparently monogamous. Ecological interactions . Small fruit seeds pass unharmed through toucan digestive tracts and large seeds are regurgitated, also unharmed. Thus, these frugivores aid in the dispersal of tree seeds, and, together with other fruit-eaters, are responsible for the positions of some forest trees.