Southern Cassowary - The Australian Museum.
The Southern cassowary is one of three species of cassowary, a large flightless bird belonging to the group of birds known as 'ratites'. Other ratites include the Southern cassowary of Australia.
Adult Southern Cassowaries posses protrusion on its head called a casque. The casque of the cassowary closely resembles a trapezoid with an average length of 17cm, an average height of 15 cm, and an average width of 7cm. It is thought that the casque provides protection to the cassowary.
The southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius), also known as double-wattled cassowary or two-wattled cassowary, is a large flightless black bird with hard and stiff plumage, two dangling red wattles and a big bony lump on its head called a casque.It lives in tropical rainforest and feeds mostly on fallen fruit, red nape and two red wattles hanging down its throat.
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Inside the Cassowary's Casque. I'm a big fan of palaeognaths - the terrestrial bird group that includes the mostly big, flightless ratites and the chicken-sized, flight-capable tinamous.
The Southern Cassowary was first described by Linnaeus in his 18th century work, Systema Naturae, as Struthio casuarius.(3) It is now the type species of the genus Casuarius. The Southern Cassowary is a solitary bird, that pairs only in breeding season, which takes place in late winter or spring.
The cassowary’s numbers have dwindled for a number of reasons. Deforestation is a major factor. The Daintree Rainforest was heavily logged up until 1987: this destroyed much of the cassowary’s habitat. The cassowary is a territorial bird, and most birds that lost their territory when it was destroyed were unsuccessful in establishing a new one.