Cassowaries

I'm fascinated by flightless birds...

I have a novella titled Blue Arrow (it's connected to the Diffusion series). Weird title, huh? Well, there's a hiking trail, called the Blue Arrow trail, in Queensland, Australia that Trish and I first hiked way back in 1995, then again in 2018. At the time of our first hike, there was an amazing bird that roamed the area of the Blue Arrow trail. The bird, a Cassowary, was known to sometimes chase hikers, and locals had named the bird Blue Arrow. The novella's title refers to this cassowary.

Let's learn more about cassowaries.

The Eastern Turkey is possibly the most impressive bird you’ll see here in Missouri. When you see one, you think, “Cool, a turkey.” But when you lay eyes on a cassowary, you think, “Holy !$*#!, it’s a dinosaur!”

(by the way, birds are now officially classified as dinosaurs... I wrote about this a few months ago)

The cassowary is the second heaviest bird (the Ostrich is first), and they live in northern Australia, New Guinea, and the surrounding islands. In 1995, when we hiked the Blue Arrow trail, Trish and I searched for Blue Arrow the bird (without success). On another hike not too far from there, we were lucky enough to see our first cassowary. We recorded some video of it. However, though we were both teachers at the time, we could never show that video to our students because Trish, who was holding the video camera, kept exclaiming, “Oh, Sh**! Oh, sh**! It’s a cassowary!”

Yeah, it’s that exciting to see one.

The first photo isn't the greatest (I had to scan the original 1995 photo), but I wanted to show you the actual cassowary we saw 30 years ago. It came down from the hills to drink water.

Cassowaries, which are about five feet tall and weigh up to 130 pounds, have a reputation for being aggressive (although, as is often the case, people’s opinions about this are sometimes exaggerated). When we hiked in areas where cassowaries lived, warning signs were posted at trailheads, and brochures about them were readily available. When Australians describe the dangers of cassowaries, they are fond of using the word “disembowel.” An unpleasant word, by any measure, but a cassowary has very sharp claws on its three dinosaur toes that are capable of doing some serious damage (see the second photo). Especially notice the claw on the right. You should also know this foot is at least at large as my hand.

Cassowaries have a large, bony helmet, or casque, growing from the top of the head, but no one is quite sure of its function. Researchers have suggested it is used as a battering ram to protect the head as the bird runs through the thick tropical forest at up to 31 mph (50 kph). However, it seems more likely the casque is used in communication, perhaps as an amplifier or receiver of the cassowary's low-frequency vocalizations. Also, the casque may serve to dissipate body heat in hot weather.

Cassowaries can jump 7 feet straight up, and they can swim wide rivers. Impressive birds, huh?

During our return trip to northeast Australia in 2018, a hen cassowary and her chick wandered into the courtyard of one of the lodges we stayed at (third photo).

Photo Credits:
- First and third cassowary photos - Stan C. Smith
- Cassowary toes - DepositPhotos