Size: Length; 42cm. Weight; 200-315g.

Age: 10-12 years in the wild. Have been known to live up to 33 years in captivity.

Habitat and Distribution: Forests in central and south Africa.

Groups and Breeding: These birds live in flocks of around 12 birds. One or two eggs are laid which hatch after around 22 days. Both parents take turns to incubate the eggs and once hatched to feed the young. Young leave the nest, before they can fly, at around three weeks.

Diet: Mainly fruit with some plant material and insects.

• All turacos share the ability to turn their outer toe of both feet either forwards or backwards. This helps when changing from perching to running along branches.
• Turacos have rounded wings and long tails to allow them to fly at high speeds through heavily wooded areas. Unfortunately, this does mean that they are not especially good fliers and tend to rely more on running along branches rather than flying.
• The pigment in turaco feathers is due to copper. Turacin gives the red colouration and turacoverdin the green. This use of copper for a pigment is unique in the animal kingdom.
• The turaco plays an important part in seed dispersal in forests. They eat large amounts of fruit and often don’t digest it completely.