Its bill is usually between It looks heavy, but as in other toucans it is relatively light because the inside largely is hollow. The tongue is nearly as long as the bill and very flat.

The Toco toucan is the largest species of toucan, the males are larger than the females but otherwise the sexes are the same.

It primarily eats fruits using it's large bill to pluck them from threes, although it will occasionally nestlings and eggs of birds. It also has been known to capture and eat small adult birds in captivity. As well as being useful to reach things that would otherwise be out of reach the bill is also used to skin fruit and scare off predators.