Southern cassowary

Southern cassowaries live in thick, green rainforests.

They live in the north of Australia and on the island of New Guinea. They like forests with lots of fruit trees.

Southern cassowaries live in dense tropical rainforests and woodlands that have lots of different fruiting trees. In Australia they are found only in the far north of Queensland, and outside Australia they live in Papua New Guinea, eastern Indonesia and some nearby islands.

In Queensland there are three populations left: one in the Wet Tropics, between Cooktown and the Paluma Range, and two on Cape York Peninsula. When Europeans arrived, they lived in rainforests all the way from north of Townsville to the tip of Cape York.

The IUCN's 2018 global assessment lists the species as resident in Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. In Australia, the Queensland government describes three remaining populations: the Wet Tropics (Cooktown to the Paluma Range) and two on Cape York, in the vine forests of the McIlwraith and Iron Ranges and north of Shelburne Bay.

At European settlement the species occupied rainforest from north of Townsville to the tip of Cape York. Land clearing for farming, towns and other development has reduced both habitat and numbers, although about 89 percent of the remaining essential habitat in the Wet Tropics is now within protected areas.

Cassowaries eat fruit that falls from the trees.

The seeds come out in their poop, far away. New trees grow from them. Cassowaries help plant the forest!

Cassowaries mostly eat fruit that has fallen to the ground. They also eat fungi, plants, insects, snails and small dead animals. Scientists have recorded more than 238 kinds of plants in their diet, including many that are poisonous to people, but the cassowary's gut can deal with the poisons.

They carry the seeds away and drop them in big piles of dung, which works like ready-made fertilizer. That is why the cassowary is called a rainforest gardener.

Southern cassowaries feed mainly on fallen fruit, supplemented with fungi, plants, insects, snails and small dead mammals. The Queensland government has recorded over 238 plant species in the diet, many toxic to humans, which the birds' digestive system is adapted to handle.

Some rainforest seeds are so large that, according to the Queensland government, no other animal can swallow and disperse them, and some germinate better after passing through the cassowary's gut. Scats can hold hundreds or thousands of seeds, and white-tailed rats, bush rats, melomys and musky rat-kangaroos that feed on seeds in the droppings spread them further.

Cassowaries like to live alone. They are shy and hard to find.

You may hear them before you see them. They make deep, rumbly sounds.

Southern cassowaries live alone, each in its own home area of about half a square kilometer to more than two square kilometers. A female's area usually overlaps with the areas of several males.

They are shy and secretive, so they are hard to spot in the thick forest. You may hear their deep rumbles and grunts long before you see one. If two males meet, they stand tall, fluff up their feathers and rumble until one walks away.

The southern cassowary is solitary, occupying a home range of about 0.52 to 2.35 square kilometers that shifts with season and food supply; a female's range usually overlaps those of several males. Calls are rumbles and grunts, often given when the bird sees possible danger.

The Australian Museum describes encounters between males as stand-offs, both birds standing tall, fluffing their feathers and rumbling until one retreats. When a male and female meet, the male moves away, as the female is dominant.

Cassowaries are important to the First Nations people of northern Australia.

They have many names for this bird. One name is goondoi.

The Queensland government describes the southern cassowary as a significant species to First Nations peoples, who know it by many different words. It is called goondoi in Djiru Country and gumbugan in Mamu Country in the Wet Tropics, and kutini on Kuuku Ya'u Country and wadthuuny on Gudang Yadhaykenu Country on Cape York.

Today many people who live near cassowaries help protect them, by planting rainforest, caring for injured birds and teaching visitors how to stay safe around them.

The Queensland government notes that the southern cassowary is a significant species to First Nations peoples and lists some of its many names: goondoi (Djiru Country) and gumbugan (Mamu Country) in the Wet Tropics, and kutini (Kuuku Ya'u Country) and wadthuuny (Gudang Yadhaykenu Country) on Cape York.

The national recovery effort is coordinated by the Cassowary Recovery Team, whose members include Traditional Owners, local, state and national governments, conservation and community groups, universities and vets. Community groups run rehabilitation facilities, plant wildlife corridors and campaign on dog and road safety.

There are not many cassowaries in Australia.

Cars, dogs and lost forest can hurt them. People drive slowly and plant new trees. We never feed cassowaries, and we watch them from far away.

Around the world the southern cassowary is listed as Least Concern, but in Australia it is Endangered. Scientists estimated in 2014 that up to 4,400 cassowaries lived in the Wet Tropics. Its dangers include lost forest, cars and dogs.

Cassowaries are strong wild animals. If one is cornered, it can kick hard enough to break bones, so the safe thing is to give it space. People should never feed cassowaries, never get between a chick and its dad, keep dogs on a leash and slow down when driving.

The IUCN's 2018 global assessment lists Casuarius casuarius as Least Concern, with an estimated 20,000 to 49,999 mature individuals and a decreasing trend. In Australia it is Endangered under the national EPBC Act; Queensland lists the Wet Tropics population as Endangered and the Cape York populations as Vulnerable. A 2014 CSIRO survey estimated up to 4,400 birds in the Wet Tropics.

Threats named by the Queensland government are habitat loss and fragmentation, vehicle strikes, dogs and pigs, and cyclones. Feeding cassowaries is illegal and has led to cassowary deaths. Responses include habitat mapping, road signs, rehabilitation centers and research into counting cassowaries from DNA in their droppings.