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antipodi
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Tue Aug 01, 2006 1:19 am
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 Australian Southern Cassowary
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Australian Southern Cassowary
Casuarius casuarius
   
Tall as a grown man, with a colourul naked head with a strange helmet-like attachment and imposing appearance — this is the southern cassowary, found in Australia only in the tropical rainforests of far north Queensland.
One of just three cassowary species in the world, it is Australia’s biggest rainforest bird — brilliantly coloured, solitary and unable to fly.
The cassowary’s feeding habits make it a natural gardener, swallowing fruits and then excreting seeds that sometimes grow into rainforest plants.
As many of their forest homes have been lost to clearing and development, cassowary numbers have fallen and they face real threats to survival. Today, the best place to see these imposing birds is Mission Beach, south of Cairns, where community and government are protecting the cassowary.
But take care: cassowaries can be dangerous, especially when the male is defending the chicks!
What does it look like?
A striking bird with glossy black plumage, the cassowary has a tall, brown casque (helmet) on top of its head, a vivid blue neck and two red wattles. The purpose of the bony helmet is unknown but it might deflect small leaves and twigs from the bird’s eyes and head when moving through the rainforest.
Chicks have cream and black stripes when they hatch. From six months of age, they turn dark brown and, by about four years, they have turned black, like their parents.
Adult cassowaries can grow to an imposing 2m tall. Females are usually bigger than males, with brighter wattles and taller casques. Females can weigh up to 85kg, while males are usually around 40kg.
The cassowary has three toes on its feet with sharp nails (up to 120mm long) for scratching and self-defence. If you come face-to-face with an aggressive bird, it’s important to have some simple strategies to protect yourself.
Where does it live?
At the time of European settlement, the cassowary lived in tropical rainforests from Paluma Range (north of Townsville) to the tip of Cape York.
Cassowary habitat has since been reduced by land clearing, so cassowary numbers have dropped.
While cassowaries prefer rainforest, they also visit melaleuca swamps, mangroves and even beaches looking for food. Places with a mixture of rainforest, melaleuca swamps and mangroves are preferred by cassowaries that live on the coast.
What does it eat?
Cassowaries prefer fruit, but will eat almost anything — from fungi to snails, flowers, fern fronds and even dead animals!
Favourite fruits come from about 150, mainly rainforest, plants. Cassowaries swallow fruit whole and often excrete intact fruit seeds in large piles of dung. A ready-made fertiliser, the dung helps many kindsof seed to grow. White-tailed rats, bush rats, melomys and musky rat-kangaroos sometimes feast on seeds in cassowary droppings. But the seeds often survive to germinate. Usually, seeds are deposited within a kilometre of where they were eaten.
How does it breed?
Always loners, cassowaries get together only during breeding season. From May to November, cassowaries in a local area court briefly, mate then separate. A female can mate with several males in one season.
The female lays betwen two and five large, olive-green eggs directly on the leaf litter. Eggs are incubated by the male, who guards the eggs and raises the chicks alone. Chicks begin to fend for themselves from about eight to 18 months of age, depending how attentive the male parent is.
Where is it seen?
Cassowaries are not common and may be hard to find. For such big, colourful birds, they blend remarkably well into rainforest shadows.
Look for signs such as large dung piles scattered on the rainforest floor, and the unmistakable three-toed footprint (up to 180mm).
You’re most likely to see cassowaries around Mission Beach. You might also see them at the Wallaman Falls Section of Lumholtz National Park, the Cape Tribulation Section of Daintree National Park, the Palmerston Section of Wooroonooran National Park and around Kuranda.
If you live in southern Queensland, you can also see cassowaries at David Fleay Wildlife Park on the Gold Coast.
Cassowaries can be aggressive. Protect yourself by learning some simple safety tips.
Threats to survival
Once common in far north Queensland, the cassowary’s traditional feeding grounds have been seriously reduced by land clearing for farming, urban settlement and other development. Widespread clearing and fragmentation of rainforest habitat have reduced cassowary numbers, until, today, the cassowary is threatened with extinction.
Two populations remain — a southern population in the Wet Tropics and a northern one in Cape York Peninsula. Both are considered threatened, but the Wet Tropics population, at greater risk, is classified as endangered.
Cassowaries are sometimes killed by vehicles when crossing roads. Road kill and land clearing are the greatest threats to the cassowary’s survival. In recent years, cyclones have also stripped food from some remaining cassowary habitat causing temporary food shortages and increased deaths in those areas. Dogs also attack and kill cassowaries.
Many people are working together in protecting the cassowary.
Protection
Today, government organisations, researchers, community groups and individuals are working together to protect the cassowary. The Environmental Protection Agency, the CSIRO Division of Wildlife Research, Wet Tropics Management Authority, Department of Natural Resources, James Cook University, the Community for Coastal and Cassowary Conservation (C4), Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland, Daintree Cassowary Care and Kuranda Envirocare are all involved.
The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service is keeping records of cassowary sightings passed on by community groups and individuals.
Cassowaries need large areas of rainforest to survive, and protected areas such as national parks are not enough. Local residents in cassowary areas are establishing nurseries of cassowary food plants so that rainforest trees can be planted to replace cleared land and corridors can be planted to join remaining patches of vegetation.
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Antipodi
May one day man and Animals live together in harmony and peace
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