CASSOWARY

The cassowary is a large species of flight-less bird, that is natively found in the forests
of Papua New Guinea and on it's surroundingislands. The cassowary is closely related
to other large flight-less birds including emusand ostriches and is the third tallest and
second heaviest birdin the world behind these two.
The cassowary inhabits dense tropical forest on New Guinea and it's
surrounding islands and parts of north-easternAustralia. There are three species of
cassowary which are the Southern Cassowary or Double-wattled Cassowary, found in
southern New Guinea, northeastern Australia, and the AruIslands, the Dwarf Cassowary
or Bennett's Cassowary, found in New Guinea, New Britain, and on Yapen, and the
Northern Cassowary or Single-wattled Cassowary, found in northern and western New
Guinea, and Yapen.
The cassowary has adapted well to a peaceful life in the depths of the forest and as a
result, are rarely seen by humans who are trying to spot them. The cassowary
cannot fly and so has developed the need to run and incredibly fast, as these
largebirds are able to sprint through the jungle at speeds of more than 30mph. The
cassowary also has large, sharp claws which aid the cassowary in defending itself from
danger.
The most distinctive features of the cassowary are it's large body size and brightly
coloured feathers (females are both larger and more colourful than their male
counterparts), and the large, spongy crest that protrudes from the top of the
cassowary's head, which can grow to 18 cm in height. Although not much is really
known about the purpose of these crests, it's thought that the crest of cassowary is used
to assert sexual dominance, to settle disputes and also helps this bird when it is running
through the thick undergrowth.
The cassowary is an omnivorous bird and therefore eats a wide variety of both plants
and animals in order to gain all the nutrients that it needs to survive. Cassowaries
mainly feed on fruits that have fallen to the ground from the trees, along with leaves,
grasses, seeds, insects, spiders and other invertebrates.
The cassowary has adapted to a life without the need to fly due to the fact that,
historically, the cassowary had no predatorswithin it's natural environment and therefore
had
no
need
to
flee.
However,
with human settles
can
mammalian predatorsincluding dogs, foxes and cats that mainly destroy the vulnerable
nests of the cassowary, eating their eggs.
The cassowary breeding season is thought to be from May to June when the female
cassowary lays up to 8 large, dark eggs into a nest on the ground made from leaf litter.
However, the female cassowary then leaves her eggs to be incubated by the male who
fiercely guards his future brood from predators for up to 50 days when the cassowary
chicks hatch out of their shells.

Today, mainly due to deforestation and therefore habitat loss and the introduction
of predators to the cassowary's nativeislands, all three cassowary species are at risk in
the wild and are classified as vulnerable animals.