From . Wikkipedia, Earth Unreal, BBC Discover Wildlife Magazine - by Hattie Hayeck,
By - Vinuri Randhula Silva,
Cassowaries
are shy and they are usually hard to spot, at least in their natural rain
forest habitats. They are not overly aggressive, and attacks are rare. But they
can do a lot of damage if they are provoked or angered. Cassowary attacks
have occasionally been deadly, including a recent one which occurred in 2019,
at a private collection of caged birds in Florida.
Cassowaries
are native to Northern Australia, New Guinea, and surrounding islands. The
family Casuariidae includes three living cassowary species,
all of the genus Casuarius:
- Casuarius casuarius. The southern, or double-wattled cassowary, with a
bright blue head, two red wattles, and black feathers, is the
largest of the cassowaries. Their habitat is the lowland rainforest,
and occasionally they are found in eucalyptus forests or forested swamps.
- Casuarius unappendiculatus. The Northern Cassowary, also known as the
single-wattled cassowary, inhabits the coastal swamps and lowland
rainforests of northern New Guinea.
- Casuarius bennetti. The dwarf cassowary is smaller than the other
two species of cassowary, usually weighing around 50 pounds. Their habitat
is at a higher altitude, and they are generally found in more steep
mountainous terrain.
It’s not hard to imagine that cassowaries are descended from dinosaur
ancestors. The largest cassowaries can stand as high as six feet and weigh up
to 160 pounds. These large birds cannot fly, but their extremely
powerful legs propel them at great speeds. They are strong swimmers and can
move quickly on both land and water. Cassowaries have been clocked running as
fast as 31 miles per hour through the rain forest.
Their powerful legs also help them jump high, up to 7 feet straight into the
air. Their legs are also used for delivering strong kicks, and they can use
their sharp dagger-like claws, up to 4 inches long, to slice and
puncture any animal that is a threat, including humans.
Cassowary. In Our living world; New York, S. Hess, 1885. Biodiversity Heritage Library.
The favorite food of cassowaries is fallen fruit of the rain forest, and
their claws come in handy for scraping up the fruit from the forest floor. But
they will eat other foods too, including insects, snails, fungi and sometimes
dead animals. They can also catch fish by sitting in a stream and
spreading their feathers to form a sort of net.
Female cassowaries lay their eggs in a nest on the forest floor. There are usually about three eggs in the nest, and the male sits on them for about 50 days until they hatch. A cassowary egg can weigh about the same as 10 average chicken eggs.
Egg of Casuarius Bennetti. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1860. Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Cassowaries are culturally important for some Aboriginal groups, and they
sometimes feature in traditional ceremonies, dances and Dreamtime narratives.
Several of these indigenous groups are now involved in cassowary conservation,
using traditional ecological knowledge along with modern science.
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