theres a toucan outside my window, can you give me a sweet fact about toucans so i can say heey this buddys sweet :)

no but I can give you a really weird fact!

see, unlike almost every other bird of the planet, toucans are completely unable to grow down feathers.

that might sound a little nonsensical, but down feathers are the fluffy underlayer that other birds have between their regular flight feathers and their skin! this layer of fluff provides the birds with extra insulation and shock absorption, and are so damn good at their job that humans regularly steal them for use in jackets and pillows.

oops?

and since toucans just straight don’t have this layer under their body feathers, you can actually see their translucent skin under there if you hold them right!

(most bird skin is translucent, you just can’t see it like this because there’s down in the way. unless the bird in question is a toucan. weirdos.)

but more importantly, down USUALLY serves as insulation for vulnerable chicks, and is replaced/covered up as the chick’s body feathers grow in!

BUT NOT TOUCANS. baby toucans are born completely naked-o, and they stay that way until their body feathers decide to show up.

which looks really weird, actually.

in timelapse, it looks like a chorus of tiny old men spontaneously grew their own tuxedos.

but anyway this really has no bearing on your day-to-day life, but the next time you see one of these:

just know that they’re hiding a REALLY WEIRD secret under there.