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Cassowaries are the strangest bird in Australia, in our opinion.
They are 4-5' tall and can weigh over 150 pounds. Obviously, they
don't fly. They have a weird thick crest on their head. The
females lay the eggs and disappear. The males do everything from that
time on, roosting the eggs, and even raising the chicks for months after
they hatch. They have big feet and can be very dangerous if they
choose because they have very sharp spurs on their feet. They can
leap into the air and slash at your midsection with their feet if they
feel threatened. Now, actually we've never heard of this happening
because they're normally shy. They are a very endangered species.
Only about 2,000 are believed to be left and they are ALL in the area
where we live - the Wet Tropics. They are fruitarians whose only
food is the fruits dropped from the trees of the tropical rainforests.
This is the first one we ever saw after months of searching. The
second one we saw just a few minutes later and it chased me because it
thought I had some food. But that's another story .... |