Interesting Facts About Cassawary
Interesting Facts About Cassowary
2. Cassowaries are large, stocky birds with a tough projection on the top of their heads called a ‘casque’. This protects the bird from low branches and vines when moving through the forest. The bird’s plumage is black and coarse. There are vivid reds and blues on the Cassowary’s head.
3. The bare skin and fore-neck is blue, while the rear of the neck is red. In appearance, the Cassowary looks like a short, heavy-built, black and blue emu.
4. Young Cassowaries are browner than adults, and have duller colored head and neck.
5. The chicks are striped yellow and black.
6. Cassowaries can grow up to 6.5 feet tall and weigh about 130 pounds.
7. Cassowaries are herbivores and eat mostly fruit.
8. The Cassowary will also eat anything from snails to small dead animals.
9. The Cassowary makes a sound like a regular bird call like this......caw caw!
10. When cornered or protecting chicks, Cassowaries will lash out with both feet at once and can injure-or sometimes kill-dogs or humans with the large dagger shaped claws on the inside toe on each foot.
11. The only recorded human fatality in Australia was a 16- year-old boy near Mossman in 1926. While running away from a bird which he (and/or his dogs) had been trying to attack he tripped and fell. The cassowary ran over him, unfortunately severing his jugular vein with its foot. Deaths in New Guinea are more common.
12. The Cassowary cannot fly it can only sprint up to 40 miles per hour.Females lay 3-8 large, pale green-blue eggs in each clutch.
13. Europeans first saw Cassowaries in 1597 when one was taken from Banda Islands (Indonesia) and brought to Amsterdam on a Dutch merchant vessel.
15. Adult Cassowaries are shy and solitary, however they will attack to protect their chicks or in self-defence.
16. Cassowaries are good swimmers and can cross deep rivers. It is also possible that cassowaries enter the water to go fishing. A nineteenth century scientist observed a Dwarf cassowary in New Guinea immersing tself in a river with its feathers spread. After 15 minutes it closed up its plumage and walked on to the bank. It then shook its feathers and ate several fish which dropped out! There is also one report of this happening at Mission Beach after Cyclone Winifred. It is quite possible that the cassowary’s feathers resemble water weed in which the fish normally hide.
17. CSIRO scientists studying cassowaries discovered that of the 78 plant species they found in cassowary droppings, 70 species germinated. It has been suggested this success may be because something in the cassowary’s digestive system removes a germination-inhibitor or breaks down the seed coat.
18. In New Guinea cassowaries are used by some groups to settle disputes. Traditionally opposing parties settled arguments with ‘races’, or competitions which involved killing equivalent numbers of pigs until one side ran out of stock. In relatively recent years cassowaries were introduced as items with rarity value. (Over 40 cassowaries were killed at a race north of Mendi in 1974.) The value of a cassowary has been equated with eight pigs or one woman!
19. Cassowaries are generally solitary birds except for mating pairs and males with young. They are rarely seen since they are shy and live in dense forests.
20. Although they are usually silent, cassowaries do emit a low booming sound that is a territorial or mating call.
21. The double-wattled cassowary is the second heaviest bird in the world. Only the ostrich is heavier.
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