Voice is an irregular series of tok notes or a high-pitched trill. There are 78 species in 11 genera world-wide with 26 species in 3 genera in the Malay Peninsula, Tana Islands, Sumatra, and Borneo. South America and eastern Asia have the brightly colored species. They are non-migratory. Fruits, seeds, flowers, and especially small figs, much of which is lost when plucked from the tree and dropped.
Some birds are more efficient at holding the fruit with a foot while eating, just like parrots.
Little is actually known about Barbets, particularly the forest species, because of the difficulty in observing them. All we know about their courtship is that the male frequently pursues the female and that they sing duets. This duetting probably helps maintain family bonds. They are highly territorial and aggressive to other birds although they often feed in mixed flocks with other species. The young are hatched blind and naked but have heel pads with which to enlarge the cramped nest that their parents hollowed from a rotten tree.