Facts about Cassowaries
Adult Southern Cassowaries are 1.5 to 1.8 meters (59–71 inches) tall, although some females may reach 2 meters (79 inches) (Panse 2006) and weigh 58.5 kilograms (129 lb) (Davies 2002).
Remaining causes of death included hunting (5 cases), entanglement in wire (1 case), the removal of cassowaries that attacked humans (4 cases), and natural causes (18 cases), including tuberculosis (4 cases).
Cassowaries provide important ecological functions, acting as a keystone species in rain forests by consuming fallen fruit and dispersing the seeds.
Cassowaries can run up to 50 kilometers/hour (31 miles per hour) through the dense forest.
All cassowaries have feathers that consist of a shaft and loose barbules.
Cassowaries are very shy, but when disturbed, they are capable of inflicting serious injuries to dogs and children, and have been called the most dangerous bird on the planet.
Cassowaries are solitary birds except during courtship, egg-laying, and sometimes around ample food supplies (Davies 2003).
About 75 percent of these were from cassowaries that had been fed by people.
All cassowaries are usually shy birds of the deep forest, adept at disappearing long before a human knows they are there.
Cassowaries are native to the humid rainforests of New Guinea and nearby smaller islands, and northeastern Australia (Clements 2007).
Cassowaries feed on the fruits of several hundred rainforest species and usually pass viable seeds in large dense scats.
Contact with humans encourages cassowaries to take most unsuitable food from picnic tables.
Cassowaries have a reputation for being dangerous to people and domestic animals.
Cassowaries are large birds, with females tending to be bigger and more brightly colored.
The evolutionary history of cassowaries, as of all ratites, is not well known.
Hand feeding of cassowaries poses a big threat to their survival (Borrell 2008).