Two Toucans (Signed) (Original)

Artist: Reginald B Davis
Medium: Gouache on Board
Size: 14" x 19" (360mm x 475mm)
Date: 1970
Signature: Signed by artist bottom right
Code: DavisToucanLL

This is the Signed unique original Gouache painting by Reginald B Davis.

Big-beaked Birds. The colourful, giant bill, which in some large species measure more than half the length of the body, is the hallmark of toucans. Despite its size it is very light, being composed of bone struts filled with spongy tissue of keratin between them. The bill has forward-facing serrations resembling teeth, which historically led naturalists to believe that toucans captured fish and were primarily carnivorous; today it is known that they eat mostly fruit.

Researchers have discovered that the large bill of the toucan is a highly efficient thermoregulation system, though its size may still be advantageous in other ways. It does aid their feeding (as they can sit in one spot and reach for all fruit in range, thereby reducing energy expenditure), and it has also been theorised that the bill may intimidate smaller birds, so that the toucan may plunder nests undisturbed.

The beak also allows the bird to reach deep into tree holes to access food unavailable to other birds, and also to depredate suspended nests built by smaller birds. However, as there is no sexual dimorphism in coloration it is unlikely to be a sexual signal. This is the original artwork for illustration on p25 of Treasure issue no 389.

• Artist Biography
  Reginald Ben Davis (10 December 1907 - 1998; UK)
  A regular illustrator of nature subjects and animals for Look and Learn and Treasure. Some of his Look and Learn illustrations were collected in Animal Partnerships by Maurice Burton (1969).
  
  Born on 10 December 1907, Davis was a commercial artist before the Second World War working for Byron Studios. After the war he became a regular artist for School Friend, drawing the adventures of castaway schoolgirl 'Jill Crusoe'. Amongst his other strips for the same paper were 'Jon of the Jungle', 'Kay of Cedar Creek', 'Phantom Ballerina' and 'Penny of Maywood Stables'.
  
  Davis was also a regular cover artist for Schoolgirls' Picture Library from its debut in June 1957 and later illustrated text stories for Girls' Crystal in the early 1960s. From 1962 he concentrated on colour illustration work and only occasionally returned to comic strips. In the 1970s he concentrated on illustrating wildlife books. Davis lived in Liphook, Hampshire, where he died in late 1998, aged 90.