Surrey toucan lends squawks to video game

The toco toucan called Boy is housed at Birdworld in Farnham

Video games makers who recorded a Surrey toucan to capture the "unique" sounds of his squawks said he was "camera shy" at first.

Boy, a toco toucan housed at Birdworld in Farnham, provided sounds for action-adventure game Sea of Thieves.

Katie Tarrant, senior sound designer at Xbox Game Studio Rare, said: "When we first envisioned adding a toucan as a pet in the game, I began researching reference videos and quickly realised how unique their sounds are.

"However, I was surprised to find that no sound effects libraries included toucan calls."

She said Birdworld "came to the rescue" of the company and they were able to record Boy's sounds there.

Musician Chloe Kwok said Boy was "camera shy" at first, but grew in confidence as the team got to know him.

She added: "At one point he tried to eat the microphone, which was highly amusing.

"It was clear that Boy certainly had the personality that we were looking for."

Birdworld said toco toucans were the largest members of the toucan family, and that numbers were "rapidly declining" due to trapping and habitat loss.