Check out Ella Bay Forever.
It’s got lots of information and rather striking photos of all sorts of native northern Australian wildlife.
I notice that southern cassowaries are featured in a lot of posts.
A cassowary is a big, flightless bird, not unlike an emu. However, unlike an emu, it has a brightly colored head complete with a helmet.
Like many ratites, the male does the incubating of the eggs and the rearing of chicks. They are very protective of their chicks and can defend them with the sharp spiky nail on their inner toe. They have attacked and killed dogs, but we have only one documented record of a cassowary killing a person.
However, the southern cassowary is considered endangered in Australia. Dogs, it seems, kill far more cassowaries than cassowaries kill dogs. They also get entangled in fences, and they also get hit by vehicles.
They prefer to live in the dense rainforests and eat mostly fruit, but as man has encroached into the cassowary’s range. Some other threats have opened up. People feed these birds, and that makes them leave the forests for the suburbs.
That actually winds up hurting them, because they start to hang out near roads, which means they can be more easily hit by cars. And the dogs can also more easily find them. A tame cassowary is also likely to be perceived as a threat to the public, in which case the government can destroy it.
Because they eat a lot of fruit, it is believed that cassowaries play a vital role in seed dispersal.
I really hope this blog continues on. There have been no new posts since July.
But it’s a very nice blog. Check it out!
Thank You retrieverman for your kind words regarding my Ellabayforever blog. I have been busy with work lately but recently posted a new cassowary story and more will be coming thick and fastvery soon! Your site is brilliant too and my dad who’s a mad keen dog trainer and wolfhound owner would love it!
cheers Russell
You have an excellent blog, and cassowaries always make my day.