linguistic:paraphrasing, structural:expansion, structural:summarization, structural:scholar_edition, information:highlighting
Relationship with humans

The toucans are, due to their unique appearance, among the most popular and well known birds in the world. Across their native range they were hunted for food and also kept as pets, and their plumage and bills were used for decorations. In some places anyone that discovers a nest is deemed its owner and is entitled to sell the birds within. In the western world they were first popularised by John Gould, who devoted two editions to a detailed monograph of the family. The constellation Tucana, containing most of the Small Magellanic Cloud, is named after the toucan.

The family has been used prominently in advertising. During the 1930s and 1940s Guinness beer advertising featured a toucan, as the black and white appearance of the bird mirrored the stout. A cartoon toucan, Toucan Sam, has been used as the mascot of Froot Loops breakfast cereal since 1963, and a toucan is the mascot of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party; its party members are called tucanos for this reason.

Toucans have also been used in popular media. They have been used as the principal characters in Toucan Tecs, a 1992 UK television cartoon about two detectives named Zippi and Zac. In Dora the Explorer, the character Señor Túcan is a Spanish-speaking toucan who occasionally gives Dora and her friends advice. Tuca, the anthropomorphic title character of the 2019 show Tuca & Bertie is a Toucan, and the companion of the song thrush Bertie. In the 2016 Nintendo 3DS game Pokémon Sun and Moon, the Pokémon Toucannon and its previous evolutions were modeled after a Toco Toucan.