More than Froot Loops: Keel-billed toucans (Ramphastos sulfuratus) consume vertebrate carrion

The ecological role of scavenging is underestimated, in part, because of limited data on facultative scavengers. Here, we describe a keel-billed toucan (Ramphastos sulfuratus) sequestering vertebrate carrion ~1 m off the ground. This observation is the first record of a toucan species supplementing their diet with carrion, and expands the list of facultative scavengers in the Neotropics, an area where scavenging is poorly understood. We caution that vertebrate remains found in gut-content analyses for toucans may be from scavenging, and we highlight that the consumption of vertebrate carrion by toucans could have landscape-level implications in the redistribution and movement of carcass nutrients and energy.