The Southern Cassowary is the largest land creature in Australia and the second heaviest extant bird in the world after the ostrich. It is third tallest after the ostrich and emu. Females are bigger and more brightly coloured. Adult Southern Cassowaries are 1.5 to 1.8 m (5 to 6 feet) tall, although some females may reach 2 m (6 feet 8 inches), and weigh about 70 kilograms (154 pounds).
A cassowary's three-toed feet have sharp claws; the dagger-like middle claw is 120 mm (5 inches) long. This claw is particularly dangerous since the Cassowary can use it to kill an enemy, disembowelling it with a single kick. They can run up to 50 kmh (32 mph) through the dense forest. They can jump up to 1.5 m (5 feet) and they are good swimmers. (Quote - Wikipedia)
In other words, don't mess with these mamas!!!
Mission Beach is renowned for its cassowaries in their natural environment. If you live in the area, they are likely to visit your back yard on a regular basis and can be very nosey. As with most wild animals and birds, they love to fossick through any rubbish left laying around.
Generally they are not seen during the mating season, from about October to January, and it’s highly unlikely that you’ll see a male until the chicks are large enough to move around. Once the chicks are larger you may spot them but you need to look hard as they are brown in colour. We have a local female cassowary, that ‘stalks’ us! She is massive and her head amour (casque) is all bent over but she still scares the life out of us!
Cassowaries are very special birds and we love to see them on every day journeys, as it still amazes us how large and colourful these creatures are.
