Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Cassowary
Cassowaries (Indonesian: kasuari; Biak: man suar 'bird strong'; Tok Pisin: muruk; Papuan:[clarification needed] kasu weri 'horned head') are flightless birds of the genus Casuarius, in the order Casuariiformes. They are classified as ratites, flightless birds without a keel on their sternum bones. Cassowaries are native to the tropical forests of New Guinea (Western New Guinea and Papua New Guinea), the Moluccas (Seram and Aru Islands), and northeastern Australia.
Three cassowary species are extant. The most common, the southern cassowary, is the third-tallest and second-heaviest living bird, smaller only than the ostrich and emu. The other two species are the northern cassowary and the dwarf cassowary; the northern cassowary is the most recently discovered and the most threatened. A fourth, extinct, species is the pygmy cassowary.
Cassowaries are very wary of humans, but if provoked, they are capable of inflicting serious, even fatal, injuries. They are known to attack both dogs and people. The cassowary has often been labelled "the world's most dangerous bird", although in terms of recorded statistics, it pales in comparison to the common ostrich, which kills two to three humans per year in South Africa.
The genus Casuarius was erected by French scientist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in his Ornithologie published in 1760. The type species is the southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius). The Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus had introduced the genus Casuarius in the sixth edition of his Systema Naturae published in 1748, but Linnaeus dropped the genus in the important tenth edition of 1758 and put the southern cassowary together with the common ostrich and the greater rhea in the genus Struthio. As the publication date of Linnaeus's sixth edition was before the 1758 starting point of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, Brisson, and not Linnaeus, is considered the authority for the genus.
Cassowaries (from Malay: kasuari cognate of several related languages spoken around the Moluccas and New Guinea) are part of the ratite group, which also includes the emu, rheas, ostriches, and kiwi, as well as the extinct moas and elephant birds. These species are recognised:
Most authorities consider the taxonomic classification above to be monotypic, but several subspecies of each have been described, and some of them have even been suggested as separate species, e.g., C. (b) papuanus. The taxonomic name C. (b) papuanus also may be in need of revision to Casuarius (bennetti) westermanni. Validation of these subspecies has proven difficult due to individual variations, age-related variations, the scarcity of specimens, the stability of specimens (the bright skin of the head and neck—the basis of describing several subspecies—fades in specimens), and the practice of trading live cassowaries for thousands of years, some of which are likely to have escaped or been deliberately introduced to regions away from their origin.
The evolutionary history of cassowaries, as of all ratites, is not well known. Genetic evidence suggests that their closest living relatives are emus, and that the dwarf cassowary is more closely related to the Northern Cassowary than either is to the Southern cassowary. A fossil species was reported from Australia, but for reasons of biogeography, this assignment is not certain, and it might belong to the prehistoric Emuarius, which was a genus of cassowary-like primitive emus.
Typically, all cassowaries are shy birds that are found in the deep forest. They are adept at disappearing long before a human knows they are there. The southern cassowary of the far north Queensland rain forests is not well studied, and the northern and dwarf cassowaries even less so. Females are larger and more brightly coloured than the males. Adult southern cassowaries are 1.5 to 1.8 m (4 ft 11 in to 5 ft 11 in) tall, although some females may reach 2 m (6 ft 6+1⁄2 in), and weigh 58.5 kg (130 lb). However, it is not uncommon to see exceptionally large females topping the scales beyond 70 kg (150 lb), with the largest maximum recorded being a southern cassowary at 85 kg (187 lb) and 190 cm (6 ft 3 in) tall.
Hub AI
Cassowary AI simulator
(@Cassowary_simulator)
Cassowary
Cassowaries (Indonesian: kasuari; Biak: man suar 'bird strong'; Tok Pisin: muruk; Papuan:[clarification needed] kasu weri 'horned head') are flightless birds of the genus Casuarius, in the order Casuariiformes. They are classified as ratites, flightless birds without a keel on their sternum bones. Cassowaries are native to the tropical forests of New Guinea (Western New Guinea and Papua New Guinea), the Moluccas (Seram and Aru Islands), and northeastern Australia.
Three cassowary species are extant. The most common, the southern cassowary, is the third-tallest and second-heaviest living bird, smaller only than the ostrich and emu. The other two species are the northern cassowary and the dwarf cassowary; the northern cassowary is the most recently discovered and the most threatened. A fourth, extinct, species is the pygmy cassowary.
Cassowaries are very wary of humans, but if provoked, they are capable of inflicting serious, even fatal, injuries. They are known to attack both dogs and people. The cassowary has often been labelled "the world's most dangerous bird", although in terms of recorded statistics, it pales in comparison to the common ostrich, which kills two to three humans per year in South Africa.
The genus Casuarius was erected by French scientist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in his Ornithologie published in 1760. The type species is the southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius). The Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus had introduced the genus Casuarius in the sixth edition of his Systema Naturae published in 1748, but Linnaeus dropped the genus in the important tenth edition of 1758 and put the southern cassowary together with the common ostrich and the greater rhea in the genus Struthio. As the publication date of Linnaeus's sixth edition was before the 1758 starting point of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, Brisson, and not Linnaeus, is considered the authority for the genus.
Cassowaries (from Malay: kasuari cognate of several related languages spoken around the Moluccas and New Guinea) are part of the ratite group, which also includes the emu, rheas, ostriches, and kiwi, as well as the extinct moas and elephant birds. These species are recognised:
Most authorities consider the taxonomic classification above to be monotypic, but several subspecies of each have been described, and some of them have even been suggested as separate species, e.g., C. (b) papuanus. The taxonomic name C. (b) papuanus also may be in need of revision to Casuarius (bennetti) westermanni. Validation of these subspecies has proven difficult due to individual variations, age-related variations, the scarcity of specimens, the stability of specimens (the bright skin of the head and neck—the basis of describing several subspecies—fades in specimens), and the practice of trading live cassowaries for thousands of years, some of which are likely to have escaped or been deliberately introduced to regions away from their origin.
The evolutionary history of cassowaries, as of all ratites, is not well known. Genetic evidence suggests that their closest living relatives are emus, and that the dwarf cassowary is more closely related to the Northern Cassowary than either is to the Southern cassowary. A fossil species was reported from Australia, but for reasons of biogeography, this assignment is not certain, and it might belong to the prehistoric Emuarius, which was a genus of cassowary-like primitive emus.
Typically, all cassowaries are shy birds that are found in the deep forest. They are adept at disappearing long before a human knows they are there. The southern cassowary of the far north Queensland rain forests is not well studied, and the northern and dwarf cassowaries even less so. Females are larger and more brightly coloured than the males. Adult southern cassowaries are 1.5 to 1.8 m (4 ft 11 in to 5 ft 11 in) tall, although some females may reach 2 m (6 ft 6+1⁄2 in), and weigh 58.5 kg (130 lb). However, it is not uncommon to see exceptionally large females topping the scales beyond 70 kg (150 lb), with the largest maximum recorded being a southern cassowary at 85 kg (187 lb) and 190 cm (6 ft 3 in) tall.