Be Cass-o-wary.

In Mission Beach, north of Townesville, we ran across another one of Australia's amazing animals. The Southern Cassowary.

The Southern Cassowary is the second heaviest bird in the world... growing up to 190 lbs. They have disappeared from their rain forest habitat in many areas due to hunting, but still thrive in the Mission Beach area.



Like most animals in Australia it is potentially dangerous (OK, maybe not, but it sure seems that way...) The 2007 Guiness Book notes it as the "world's most dangerous bird." Many internet entries about cassowaries state that they can disembowel a man or dog with one kick, with the long second toe claw cutting the gut open... but I'm sure these are all exaggerations...

This is the "immature" male. He's still 7 or 8 years old... cassowaries are sexually monomorphic, so they all appear the same except in size (the female... more dominant... are larger).



... but we didn't know all these facts at the time...