Need convincing that birds are dinosaurs? Check out the cassowary. This endangered resident of tropical North Queensland is the 3rd largest bird in the world. #Cassowary#Australia#Birds#Travel#Animals
For #WorldCassowaryDay: #Cassowary recorded in Illustrated Scroll of Birds (Chōrui zukan) Vol.1, Meiji Japan, late 19th c.
🆔 Southern Cassowary aka Double-Wattled Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius), native to New Guinea/NE Australia/Aru Islands.
(All cassowaries are native to greater Australasia; they were first imported to Japan by Dutch traders in 1646.)
Harvard Art Museums collection: https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/210958 #JapaneseArt#BirdsInArt
In honour of World #cassowary day, here’s the only one I have encountered in the wild. It gave absolutely no fucks and was content to stand on the beach watching the surf.
Today’s #megafauna is the #cassowary! This flightless Australian bird is the second-heaviest living bird species in the world (after the ostrich.) The cassowary has incredible, vibrant blue feathers on its head and neck, and glossy black feathers over the rest of its body. The two non-dwarf species also have colorful wattles dangling at their chins. In addition, cassowaries sport helmet-like growths of keratin on their head, called casques. These casques may help them in producing the low, booming sounds that help them communicate through dense forests.
Cassowaries stand up to 6 feet tall and can weigh in around 160 pounds. Their strong legs help them to run up to 30 miles per hour and to jump up to 7 feet in the air. In addition, they pack a powerful kick that is used as a form of defense. Since each foot ends in a 4-inch-long claw, these kicks can be deadly. In fact, the Library of Congress calls cassowaries “the most dangerous bird.”
Cassowaries live in dense rainforests, and are usually hard to spot. They primarily feed on fruit, and several rainforest tree species rely on cassowary digestion to initiate their sprouting process. Most of the time, cassowaries are solitary, but females become more tolerant of males during the mating season. After laying a clutch of eggs, the female cassowary will move on, perhaps to lay another clutch with another partner. Male cassowaries will incubate their clutch of 3-5 bright green eggs for about 50 days. Once these 1.25-lb eggs hatch, the male will raise the young for about a year until they are ready to head off on their own.