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greenzaku — Cassowary
Published: 2010-08-07 10:32:21 +0000 UTC; Views: 751; Favourites: 16; Downloads: 15
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Description
The cassowary is a large, flightless bird that can be found in tropical northen Australia, New Guinea and nearby islands. Despite its size, it is more closely related to kiwis than to emus or ostriches. The species pictured here is a Casuarius casuarius Both males and females have the brilliant blue and red skin (wattles) on their necks, and the rigid crest (casque) on their heads.Although they are classed as Vulnerable internationally and Endangered in Australia, cassowaries sometimes learn to approach people and homes in search of food. This should be strongly discouraged as it exposes them to attack from dogs as well as road accidents. Furthermore, these birds (which can be 1.7m tall and weigh about 60kg) can be aggressive if provoked and have enormous claws and a powerful kick that can be lethal.
They are threatened by feral animals, hunting and by road deaths.
(information from Wikipedia - [link] )
Photographed at Australia Zoo, June 2010.
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Comments: 15
Bummers that the Australian Thunder Bird Gastornis doesn't still exist.
Though, I guess if it did you might be on its list of dietary edibles.
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These birds terrify me o__o it looks like it's contemplating evil things
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Well, you're in luck - this particular bird is considered a bit gentler than the others in the same exhibit
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A gentle Cassowary sounds like an oxymoron XD
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Those might be more terrifying than swans and geese. Punt of Death!
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Oooh yup. They are definitely more terrifying - they are as large as people!
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I think he might have been slightly annoyed by how long I was standing in front of him, over his food bowl, trying to get a good shot
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1.7m tall? are there any animals in Australia that aren't out to kill you?
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1.7m might be a bit closer to the higher end of the scale, at least according to Wikipedia, but thats not even the MAXIMUM height of about 1.9m....
Luckily, this particular bird is considered more docile than the others at Australia Zoo, he is a 21 year old male named Beeba who was feeding right next to the camera. The females are usually bigger than males.
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A 2 meter bird looking like that qualifies for "scare children into good behavior with" status monster
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...Not when our regular, common-as-dirt Red Kangaroos roam in herds, grow up to 2m tall anyway, complete with lethal kick
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Right, those are also evil as far as I can tell, but at least they aren't despicably ugly, by the way I read somewhere that a herd of kangaroos is called a "mob" 
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