Where is the southern cassowary located

The Australian Museum respects and acknowledges the Gadigal people as the First Peoples and Traditional Custodians of the land and waterways on which the Museum stands. Image credit: gadigal yilimung shield made by Uncle Charles Chicka Madden. This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more. Identification The Cassowary's large size, its large greyish helmet casque and the red wattle hanging from the neck, make it easy to identify.

Habitat The dense rainforest habitat and the Cassowary's secretive nature make individuals difficult to see. Distribution Southern Cassowaries are found in northern Queensland. Feeding and diet The Southern Cassowary feeds mostly on fruit that has fallen to the ground. Communication The calls of the Southern Cassowary consist of an assortment of rumblings and grunts. Breeding behaviours The female Southern Cassowary selects a male to breed with and then lays a clutch of large green eggs in a scrape in the ground lined with plant material.

Economic impacts Their fruit diet means they are commonly sighted in commercial orchards and gardens with fruit bearing trees. Danger to humans Southern Cassowaries can be dangerous if cornered.

References Marchant, S. Vol 1. Oxford University Press, Melbourne. Cassowaries are also capable of eating fruits and seeds that would be toxic to other species. Other animals such as white-tailed rats may help distribute smaller seeds but more often than not, they damage the seed rather than dispersing it intact.

Cassowaries swallow fruit whole, digesting the pulp, and passing the seeds unharmed in large piles of dung, distributing them over large areas throughout the rainforest.

A ready-made fertiliser , the dung helps many kinds of seed to grow. Other animals sometimes feed on the seeds in cassowary droppings, helping to distribute them further. Their role in helping to maintain the diversity of the rainforest is why cassowaries are considered a 'keystone' species.

Protecting cassowary habitat and food plants benefits many other rainforest plants and animals. Sadly, the Wet Tropics population of the southern cassowary is still declining. Land clearing, particularly in the coastal lowlands and Atherton Tablelands, has significantly reduced cassowary habitat over the last century. Although the rate of habitat loss has slowed now, the population is still threatened by the impacts of fragmentation and other ongoing issues, such as:.

One of the saddest, but most easily preventable, threats to cassowaries is the perceived kindness of people who enjoy feeding these impressive birds. Once a cassowary starts to associate people with food, and begins appearing 'tame' and approaching humans, or wandering through residential suburbs its chance of being killed by cars or dogs particularly dogs bred for hunting increases dramatically. Adult birds, particularly males with chicks, or if they are used to being fed may also become more aggressive around people.

In rare cases, it may be necessary to relocate a problem bird, which is upsetting for both the cassowary and the local community. Feeding native animals can leave to changes in health and behaviour that aren't immediately obvious.

The best way to avoid this is to be cass-o-wary and not feed them. These are usually placed in the forest to draw cassowaries away from the risks posed by humans, dogs and traffic. There are three main areas in the Wet Tropics that are 'hot spots' for cassowaries:. Often the first sign that a Cassowary is around are its tell-tale piles of droppings.

Because the seeds are deposited in their own blob of fertiliser, they are able to germinate quickly, and through this action, Cassowaries assist with the regeneration of the rainforest. The Cassowary's large size, its large greyish helmet casque and the red wattle hanging from the neck, make it easy to identify. The feathers of the body are black and hair-like. The bare skin of the head and fore-neck is blue, while the rear of the neck is red. Both sexes are similar in appearance, but the female is generally larger than the male, with a taller casque, and is brighter in colour.

Young Cassowaries are browner than adults, and have duller coloured head and neck. The chicks are striped yellow and black. If a Cassowary is approached it will generally stand its ground. If the intruder approaches too close, the bird will stretch itself as tall as possible, ruffle its feathers and let at a loud hiss in an attempt to scare the intruder off.

The birds are equipped with quite dangerous claws, and will readily attack a persistent intruder, although they usually retreat into the dense rainforest. In appearance, the Cassowary looks like a short, heavily-built, black and blue Emu, Dromaius novaehollandiae. Both species are indeed closely related, belonging to the family Casuariidae, and both are flightless.

Southern Cassowaries are found in northern Queensland. The species is also found through New Guinea and eastern Indonesia. The dense habitat and the Cassowary's secretive nature make individuals difficult to see. In certain areas birds come near human habitation seeking food. Throughout their range, Southern Cassowaries live alone, and inhabit the same area all year round.

The Southern Cassowary feeds mostly on fruit that has fallen to the ground. The Southern Cassowary will also eat anything from snails to small dead mammals.

Southern Cassowaries normally feed alone. If two males should meet, they have a stand off where both birds stand tall, fluff up their feathers and rumble at each other until one retreats. A number of factors affect southern cassowary survival. The major threats include the loss, fragmentation and modification of habitat, vehicle strikes, dog attacks, human interactions, pigs, disease and natural catastrophic events.

Southern cassowary habitat, particularly on the coastal lowlands, has been seriously reduced by land clearing for farming, urban settlement and other development. Urban development continues to threaten the populations that occur outside protected areas.

In the Mission Beach area, road accidents are the greatest single cause of southern cassowary death. Roads cut through southern cassowary territories, making it necessary for the birds to travel across them when looking for food. Birds can also be attracted to roads by people feeding them or throwing litter from vehicles. Unrestrained and wild dogs are another major cause of southern cassowary mortalitu, particularly in areas near residential development.

Chicks and sub-adults are small enough to be killed by dogs and packs of dogs also kill adult birds, pursuing them until they are exhausted, then attacking them. Dogs also indirectly affect cassowaries through their very presence, influencing the feeding, movements and general behaviour of the birds.

Domestic dogs can also attack and kill cassowaries when they wander into suburban areas seeking food or water. Pigs cause disturbance to the rainforest and compete with cassowaries for fallen fruit. They may also eat southern cassowary eggs and destroy nests.

Pig control activities may also be hazardous to cassowaries, particularly when dogs are let loose to hunt pigs, and end up finding and attacking cassowaries instead. Hand-feeding of cassowaries is a risk to both birds and people. Wild cassowaries conditioned to human food sources can be aggressive when protecting themselves or their chicks, or seeking other human food.

As birds become less wary of humans, they may become more vulnerable to dog attack and road mortality as they search for food. In recent years, cyclones have damaged large areas of southern cassowary habitat, causing temporary food shortages.

This may place further stress on local populations already under threat from habitat fragmentation, dogs and vehicle strikes. The Recovery plan for the southern cassowary Casuarius casuarius johnsonii sets out actions to secure the long-term protection of the southern cassowary through improved habitat protection and enhancement, threat abatement and community engagement programs.

Local residents in southern cassowary areas are establishing nurseries of southern cassowary food plants to revegetate southern cassowary habitat on cleared land, and create corridors between existing patches of habitat. The Department of Environment and Science has mapped the habitat of the southern cassowary. This information can then be considered when assessing future developments by state and local governments to protect southern cassowary habitat.

A method for estimating southern cassowary abundance from genetic material in southern cassowary scats is being developed by the CSIRO.