The Toucan has a beak made of bony fibers and drum head-like membranes, which are sandwiched between keratin.  Keratin is the protein that makes up your fingernails and your hair. It is also found in the horns of many animals.

In the Toucan beak, the bony fibers are made into a kind of foam which is very light weight.  This material has a hollow space in the middle, and it is all held together by the exterior layer of keratin.  When Dr. Marc Meyers ran a computer model of the beak he found it was "optimized to an amazing degree for high strength and very little weight."  He goes on to say, "It's almost as if the Toucan has a deep knowledge of mechanical engineering."

It is interesting that, as man's technology continues to grow and his tools become better and better for evaluating what God has done in the creating of His creatures, we find the level of engineering and technology is incredibly high.  This leads people in materials science to continue to look at the world around us and copy the design features that are there to make better materials and processes for our own well-being.  Again and again the message of Romans 1:20 comes back to us that we can know there is a God through the things He has made.

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