Skip to main content

Southern Cassowary

Casuarius casuarius

Photo by Kat G
Published on Project Noah
Zoom
NominateNominate for Wildlife Photograph of the Month
reportFlag Spotting

-17.8525, 146.106

Field Notes

Description:

A large flightless bird (ratites) of Australia, other cassowary species are found in New Guinea. There is sexual dimorphism, where the female is significantly larger than the male. The male raises the chicks rather than the female. This species is on the ICUN red list.

Habitat:

Tropical rainforest with lots of fruiting trees. Diet is fruit. It is the main disperser of seeds throughout the Australian rainforests such as the Daintree.

Reference Links:

Cassowary

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (6)
Kat G
I didn't think of that. I will in the future :). And that's quite alright. I enjoyed telling the story haha.
Maria dB
Thanks for adding that information! If you could add details like this to the notes in your spottings in future, they become all the more interesting. Thanks again. :)
Kat G
@Neil - I know. We normally ate outside, but had to wait till he had left. Certainly didn't want to startle him. You don't want to get on the wrong side of a Cassowary!
Neil Ross
Great story and photos. When 'they' feel threatened, they can be very dangerous animals - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/8318367/Australians-hit-by-Cyclone-Yasi-warned-to-stay-away-from-deadly-giant-birds.html
Kat G
The house we were staying at was bordered by rainforest to the back, and beach to the front. We came back from work one day, when one of the people I was living with happened to look out when she was heading to the bathroom. Lo and behold there was this Cassowary inspecting his reflection. He hung around for about ten minutes. It really was an unusual situation, and we were really lucky.
Maria dB
Welcome to Project Noah! This is certainly an unusual spotting; can you tell us something about how the bird happened to be looking inside the house? The largest birds that look in my windows are woodpeckers!

Spotted for Missions

Mission
Birds of the World
Mission
National Geographic's Great Nature Project

Tags

Photographed
PublishedAugust 13, 2013

Community Sponsor

Butterfly
Become a Community Sponsor and Help Grow our Global Movement!

Accelerate our Mission to Photograph 
Every Species in the World!

Butterflies icon
Become a Community Sponsor

Wildlife Community

Wildlife Community

Join a worldwide community passionate about wildlife and nature!

Join Project Noah

Nature School

Nature School

Transform your green space into a curiosity-creating nature classroom!

Visit Nature School

Wildlife Game

Wildlife Game

Defend wildlife throughout the jungle in thrilling nature game!

Play Baboon

Nature & Conservation Organizations

Brands & Mission-Focused Companies