Cool article I came across
jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news/news_releases/release.sfe?id=417
Basically shows how the Toucan beak is more or less a foam core composite sandwich with dense bone acting as the skin and closed cell, air filled foam like bone core, very similar construction to our strong and light boats.
The really interesting part - "The study in
Acta Materialia also noted a hollow region extending ab out half the length of the upper and lower beaks. "When we did the calculations, we discovered that there are only very insignificant mechanical stresses in the center of the beak at the position of the hollow areas," said Meyers. "This is why I jokingly tell my students that toucans have a deep knowledge of mechanics. They don't bother adding structural support in a part of the beak that doesn't really need it."
So the inner beak is completely hollow just like our skis. If I was a caveman in prehistoric times, maybe I could have ski'd on a dinosaur Toucan beak... Like Tarzan, but on the water!
