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Community Corner

Meet the Zoo: Pepita the Toucan

Pepita likes to offer food to her cockatoo exhibit mates, but the cockatoos want no part of it.

Sometimes it takes a food product to make an animal well known and at the Prospect Park Zoo, a particular bird is a prime example.

“It’s a toucan!” is the cry as kids gather in front of the window to look at Pepita, a large, keel-billed toucan living in the Animals in Art section of the zoo.  Thanks to Fruit Loops, this animal is easy for everyone to identify immediately.

Pepita is 13 years old and was hatched at the Riverbanks Zoo in South Carolina. She later moved to the Central Park Zoo but recently it was decided she would do better in a smaller exhibit with just a couple of other birds.  The Prospect Park Zoo offered to give her a new home.  She has done extremely well in her new surroundings.

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Looking at visitors with a curious and bright eye, Pepita actually seems interested in the attention.  She is also interested in her exhibit mates, a pair of pink Major Mitchell Cockatoos.  Often, she will pick up a piece of food with her colorful, big bill, hop over to the cockatoos and offer the treat.  The cockatoos seem to want no part of Pepita’s generosity.  They flick their head feathers with displeasure and move to another side of the exhibit.  Pepita hops back over – “please eat” she seems to say.  This amusing interaction will go on for a few minutes until Pepita gets the message and tosses the food back into her own mouth with a shake of her head.

Toucans are native to Central and South America where they inhabit the canopies of lowland forests.    They feed largely on fruit and insects. The keel-billed toucan lives in the area from southern Mexico to northern Colombia and Venezuela. It is the national bird of Belize and is noted for its bright yellow “bib” against a large black body. Its distinctive and colorful big beak is actually hollow and light, being made of keratin, the same protein substance as fingernails.  Toucans are playful and social birds, often observed tossing food to each other.

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Come by the Prospect Park Zoo any day and say buenos dias to Pepita.  I guarantee she will look back at you and maybe even offer a treat.

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