Intersting bird

While taking my lunch break today I saw this show on animal planet on the Southern Cassowary.
These are an endangered bird in Australia, they just struck me as interesting so thought I would share.

Looks like an emu, turkey, and guinea combination. LOL

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Very dangerous birds down there. Will attack and can do lots of damage when they do!

Interesting how the babies look like giant guinea keets.

What is the purpose of that hard head lump? A cooling feature?

There was a wonder doc on birds produced in the late 80s. I believe it was called Birds of the World? I would have to check my tapes. It shows a Cassowary hen building its nest. The feet action was just incrediable! I recall them saying that Cassowary hens have been know to stomp preditors to death with their feet. Would not want to mess with them.

They do have serious stink eye happening.

Schipperkesue wrote:Interesting how the babies look like giant guinea keets.

What is the purpose of that hard head lump?  A cooling feature?

Last time I checked they theorized that the casque was for social signals (show other birds how old you are). The other theory was protection in the jungle but the young don`t have them. You may be onto something about the cooling. Someone showed that a toucan`s bill acts as a cooling tower.

It said on the show that the females make a nest, lay 3-5 eggs, and the MALE incubate and raise the young. That was interesting.
Coopslave they did say how dangerous they were, and the outer toe has a sharp blade like claw on it that can really do damage. There are less that 1500 in the world.

I believe it's one of few birds that's alive  that can be traced back to the dinosaurs as far as having not changed a lot through time ?.......as  with all dinosaur  we can theorize all we want yet we are not sure what some of there appendages did as far as function ? I had heard that it also uses it as a defence item ? Read a article where a person got attacked by one and the head was used as a hammer of sorts to inflict injury besides the CLAW  ? Apparently it's a solid mass so cooling wouldn't be a factor............

They are interesting and I looked them Up and there is a Dwarf Cassowary also they are Blacker it seems kinda cute but just as dangerous

Just you wait...Ty will have one at his next sale!

Schipperkesue wrote:Just you wait...Ty will have one at his next sale!

*LOL* Probably

Interesting. I hadn't heard a lot of this. Always learn something here. Who knew the Guineafowl casques were used for cooling?

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All three species have horn-like but soft and spongy crests called casques on their heads, up to 18 cm (7 in).[7] These consist of "a keratinous skin over a core of firm, cellular foam-like material".[10] Several purposes for the casques have been proposed. One possibility is that they are secondary sexual characteristics. Other suggestions include that they are used to batter through underbrush, as a weapon for dominance disputes, or as a tool for pushing aside leaf litter during foraging. The latter three are disputed by biologist Andrew Mack, whose personal observation suggests that the casque amplifies deep sounds.[11] However, the earlier article by Crome and Moore says that the birds do lower their heads when they are running "full tilt through the vegetation, brushing saplings aside and occasionally careening into small trees. The casque would help protect the skull from such collisions".[10] From an engineering perspective the wedge-shaped casque is also the most efficient way to protect the head by deflecting falling fruit. As cassowaries live on fallen fruit they spend a lot of time under trees where seeds the size of golfballs or larger are dropping from heights of up to 30 metres. Mack and Jones also speculate that the casques play a role in either sound reception or acoustic communication. This is related to their discovery that at least the Dwarf Cassowary and Southern Cassowary produce very-low frequency sounds, which may aid in communication in dense rainforest.[11] This "boom" is the lowest known bird call, and is on the edge of human hearing.[12] Crowe described a cooling function for the very similar casques of guineafowl.

Whoa...it's beautiful.

eta: I'm fairly certain we saw one at the San Diego zoo years ago and it was HUGE

Yup.... I tried to let mom let me have one.... Hower the being dangerous part did not go over...

However you need a really expensive avery for them.

call ducks wrote:Yup.... I tried to let mom let me have one.... Hower the being dangerous part did not go over...

However you need a really expensive avery for them.  

Maybe a good pair of shin pads too?

They are actually illegal in BC due to being dangerous... Of course with proper facilities they would be manageable, like anything.

BUT, the only pair I know of that is available right now is 2000 miles away from me, and $20,000. lol. Not happening... one day.

Alberta Man Killed by Exotic Import

Ty Marshal of Ty's Exotics died Friday from Southern Cassowary-related injuries.

Ty imported the dangerous bird earlier that week. He was found Thursday in the Casowary's cage with fatal injuries. At this time it is not clear if the slashing from the razor sharp feet or the battering from the rock hard head lump was responsible for the coup-de-gras. Marshal, who regained consciousness for a short time before he expired was quoted as saying, "It was all worth it!"

Schipperkesue wrote:Alberta Man Killed by Exotic Import

Ty Marshal of Ty's Exotics died Friday from Southern Cassowary-related injuries.  

Ty imported the dangerous bird earlier that week.  He was found Thursday in the Casowary's cage with fatal injuries.  At this time it is not clear if the slashing from the razor sharp feet or the battering from the rock hard head lump was responsible for the coup-de-gras.  Marshal, who regained consciousness for a short time before he expired was quoted as saying, "It was all worth it!"

Dibs on his birds!