Scientific Name: Casuarius casuarius
Distribution
Southern Cassowaries are located in the Australasian region. They are found in (North-eastern) Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Aru and Seram Islands. Cassowaries are found in two main populations in Australia - Cape York and the Wet Tropics (extending from Cooktown to Paluma). Why are they threatened? Cassowaries face a range of threats that arise from human activity. These include loss and fragmentation of habitat, predation by introduced pets and other animals, and death/injury from motor vehicles. How have habitat threats contributed to the decline of the Cassowary?
Habitat threats - whether in the form of land clearing for farming, urban development or logging - is the major threat to the survival and well-being of cassowaries. Some reasons why is that: - Direct loss of habitat leads to a decrease in cassowary numbers - Without a place that provides appropriate shelter, food, water, the cassowaries will die - Fragmentation of habitat results in the creation of isolated and fragmented pockets of habitat. This means that cassowaries are forced to cross hostile environments (such as open fields and roads) which exposes them to threats that they otherwise wouldn't encounter - such as vehicle impacts and dogs. ~ Vehicle strikes are one of the most common threats to the cassowary ~
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What are they?
The Southern Cassowary (also known as the Double-wattled Cassowary or the Australian Cassowary) is a large flightless black bird, and forms part of the group Ratite. It is the largest avian frugivore in the world. Their feathers are a glossy black, and their skin is coloured with amazing hues of reds, oranges, purples and blues. They can be distinguished by their splendid colourful wattles. Their wings are tiny, having shrunk almost to the point of nonexistence. But their necks are long, and bare of all but the lightest coating of short, hairlike feathers. Southern Cassowaries can grow to a height of 2 metres, with males weighing up to 55kg and females up to 76kg. Each leg has three claws, with the medial claw reaching up to 120mm in length! They have a life span of approximately 30 years in the wild and between 18-50 years in captivity. Southern Cassowary Distribution
How have human actions contributed to the decline of the Cassowary?
Human activity has contributed the most to the decline to the Cassowary. Humans have caused most of the threats that are endangering the Cassowary's survival - especially habitat loss. Loss and fragmentation of habitat arises from human activities such as logging, urban development, farming, or tourism sites. For example with logging, humans are cutting down the trees in the cassowary's habitat to use the wood for their own needs (such as constructing buildings or selling for a profit). This means that the habitat's resources has been diminished - which means that there is less shelter and food sources for the animals that inhabit it. This can lead to the extinction of the cassowary which will disrupt the food chain - which can cause further extinctions throughout the food chain. With the level of urban development on the rise, people are destroying and removing parts of the cassowaries' habitat, and replacing the resources that they depend on with buildings - full of human activity. This threatens the cassowary because this human activity produces pollution (e.g. litter and waste, burning of fossil fuels, factory gasses, chemicals, sewerage) which can be poisonous to the cassowary and their food sources (if the cassowary's prey is contaminated or extinct the cassowary won't have anything to eat). Also, the pollution can drive the cassowaries out to a more hostile place where they cannot survive. |
Not only that, but humans are the only species living on this earth that drive vehicles such as cars and motorcycles. These vehicles have been recorded to cause multiple deaths and injuries of cassowaries, with people not being careful with their vehicles and running over or colliding with a wild cassowary. For example, in 2010 the third cassowary death within six months along the same road in Mission Beach, due to a car strike, was reported. If these accidents continue at this rate, there may not be many cassowaries left in Mission Beach, which is one of the most prominent habitats of the Cassowary.
Also, humans have introduced animals into the community that were not there before - such as domestic pets. These animals were not meant to be near the cassowary, and so cause unnecessary threats. For example, dogs. Dog attacks has been recorded as the second most drastic source of cassowary mortality.
They have been known to harass cassowaries in packs until they are exhausted, injured or even dead. Older birds and chicks often fall prey to dogs - due to the fact that they are not strong enough to protect themselves. Dogs also chase away cassowaries from potential food and water sources that were meant for such local animal species (not the introduced pets). These threats are all caused by humans - with a great number of people living around and within cassowary habitat owning dogs.
They have been known to harass cassowaries in packs until they are exhausted, injured or even dead. Older birds and chicks often fall prey to dogs - due to the fact that they are not strong enough to protect themselves. Dogs also chase away cassowaries from potential food and water sources that were meant for such local animal species (not the introduced pets). These threats are all caused by humans - with a great number of people living around and within cassowary habitat owning dogs.
Interview with wildlife world sydney staff:
How can they be helped and what can we do?
You can help save the cassowary in a variety of many different ways. Some things you can do are:
You can help save the cassowary in a variety of many different ways. Some things you can do are:
- - Support/donate to organisations that are helping the cassowary
E.g. the Australian Rainforest Foundation, the Cassowary Recovery Team and the Rainforest Rescue - Save the Cassowary organisation. Supporting a campaign can help save a cassowary, or even more than one! You can even adopt a cassowary which will provide funds for buying cassowary habitat, establishing pest free sanctuaries (for research and breeding) and eventually release into the wild.
- - Keep domestic pets under control
If you are in a cassowary habitat area keep dogs behind fences or on a leash and cats inside. Pets can be a threat to the cassowary and may be provoked to harm them and create an unsafe cassowary environment. By making sure your pets aren't able to escape in a cassowary habitat you are reducing the risk of threat.
- PLANT NATIVE CASSOWARY FOOD PLANTS
If you live in a cassowary habitat area why not protect and replant native vegetation - especially in gullies and creeks, as natural feeding grounds for cassowaries.
- PLANT NATIVE CASSOWARY FOOD PLANTS
If you live in a cassowary habitat area why not protect and replant native vegetation - especially in gullies and creeks, as natural feeding grounds for cassowaries.
- - Never feed cassowaries - let them find their own food
It is illegal. If you feed them they may come to depend on you. This means that when you are not around their health will suffer because they do not know how to survive on their own. When cassowaries become used to people and associate them with food they will be encouraged to stay and roam around in urban areas and are far more likely to be killed by cars and dogs.
- BE CAREFUL WHEN DRIVING
When in/near a cassowary habitat always watch out for nearby cassowaries, and slow down or stop to avoid hitting them.
- BE CAREFUL WHEN DRIVING
When in/near a cassowary habitat always watch out for nearby cassowaries, and slow down or stop to avoid hitting them.
How have people acted in response to the decline of the cassowary?
The Australian Government/s:
The 'Rainforest Rescue' organisation:
The Australian Government/s:
- Australia has listed the Southern Cassowary as Endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999), and Queensland has also listed it as Endangered under the Nature Conservation Act (1992). This is important because without listing it as endangered no-one will know about how threatened the cassowary is, and how much we need to help them. By these governments putting the condition of the cassowary out to the world, we can all work on how we can do our part to help. Also, these conservation acts were created by Australia and Queensland (respectively) to help maintain, protect and grow the number of species of each animal that is under it. For example, Queensland's Nature Conservation Act ensures that the Southern Cassowary will receive help such as the gathering of information and community education, protection of its species and its habitat, dedication and declaration of protected areas, management of protected areas, and much more.
- The Queensland Government Environmental Protection Agency created a Recovery Plan for the Southern Cassowary in 2007 that seeks to carry out a number of recovery actions such as: completing the mapping of essential cassowary habitat and identifying areas and corridors to protect, restore and manage them; developing and implementing Cassowary Conservation Local Area Plans as part of local planning; minimising cassowary road deaths and dog attacks; implementing a translocation plan as part of rescue, rehabilitation and release; establishing a monitoring programme in key habitats; developing and implementing a population survey procedure based on faecal DNA; studying the cassowary population at Mission Beach and determining their genetic structure; and involving the community in cassowary conservation.
The 'Rainforest Rescue' organisation:
- Save the Cassowary Website - Rainforest rescue launched the website savethecassowary.org.au to help educate and inform people about the Cassowary, the threats it faces and how everyone can do their bit to help.
- Daintree Buy Back and Protect Forever Project - Rainforest Rescue purchases and protects high conservation value rainforest at risk of development and establishes Nature Refuge status which protects it forever under covenants ratified by the Queensland Parliament in Australia. They have already purchased 22 cassowary habitat properties and have another two to be settled in April 2014. Their vision is to buy back and protect all remaining high conservation value properties in the Daintree Lowland Rainforest (by 2030). It is so important that we save and protect the Daintree Rainforest since it is of international conservation importance as one of the most significant regional ecosystems in the world. If it is lost, then many animals - such as the cassowary - could be endangered and even lost as well.
- Daintree Plant Nursery - Rainforest Rescue propagates and grows rainforest trees for revegetation projects - which are used for their Plant a Rainforest Project and to support the efforts of other landholders in the Daintree. The collect seeds from the Daintree Lowland Rainforest and grow the trees in the Nursery, which is located in the Daintree National Park. On average, they produce 10,000 plants per year. They are then replanted back into the rainforest, where they came from.
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- Cassowary Rehabilitation - Rainforest Rescue partnered with the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (DEHP) Threatened Species Unit to manage the Garners Beach Cassowary Rehabilitation Centre in Mission Beach. The centre was established in 2001 to provide intensive care and rehabilitation for sick and injured cassowaries and orphaned chicks.
- Cassowary Research - They collaborate with experts, universities, research laboratories, zoos and other institutions to conduct much-needed research. They are supporting a number of research opportunities such as contributing towards ongoing cassowary tracking and monitoring research, population dynamics and monitoring, and population modelling and road kill reporting and management. This is important because the more we know about cassowaries and how to help them, the more we can save.
Dr Hamish Campbell:
- iPhone App - Dr Hamish Campbell lead a project in which Queensland scientists created an iPhone application which allows members of the public to upload footage of the birds, record their position using Google Maps and log their details onto a website (which they created collaborating with Australian Geographic, Queensland Parks and Wildlife and Rainforest Rescue). They are doing this because they want the public to help them gather more information about the bird's movements, which is needed to better understand its biological needs and to develop an evidence-based recovery plan. Campbell says that “The novel thing about the iPhone application is that people can log a bird’s location even when they are out of mobile phone range.” Given that cassowaries typically reside in forests, the ability to record movement in these remote areas is a vital development. According to him, there is little recorded data about the Cassowary’s ecology and most information is anecdotal. “We’re trying to minimise the error in the data; get everyone using the same technology and unify the database throughout the wet tropics.”
Alan Curtis:
- Alan Curtis is the centre of the Daintree community when it comes to rainforest conservation, revegetation, education, preservation, and has been for more than 10 years. A dedicated wildlife carer, he spends his time organising the Cassowary Care Nursery and always has injured animals/birds at home and work. Alan is absolutely passionate about the rainforest and is the person everyone goes to for information – locals, bus drivers, tour operators, staff and officials of the Daintree Discovery Centre. He is dedicated and committed to promoting the values of the World Heritage Area, which is why he was recognised by the Wet Tropics Management Authority as a 'Cassowary Hero' in 2012. He has not only saved individual cassowaries from injuries and accidents, but has helped their situation as a whole by providing much needed information to the community, and protecting, maintaining and rebuilding their habitat.
Issues relating to the cassowary:
What are some perspectives on the status of the cassowary? What do they believe are the issues?
The Public:
"I believe that these sorts of losses are far from tolerable especially when one takes into account that these are only the reported deaths. Just how often are these magnificent birds struck by a vehicle only to wander off and die alone, uncounted and unremembered in the scrub? The speed limit needs to be reduced in these areas with speed limiting road structures rather than simply putting up signs and crossing our fingers for luck. At Mission Beach we are gambling with the future of a precious keystone species. As intelligent and rational people we should know better than to risk something that we simply cannot afford to lose." ~ Russell Constable Russell is a blogger, and has been posting articles relating to wildlife information and issues since 2009. This is what he said in 2010, when commenting about the cassowary deaths by car accidents. The public believes that the issues are that too many cassowaries are dying unnecessarily, because of human controlled factors. Russell said that he believes that we need to reduce the speed limit in cassowary habitat areas to limit the risk of cassowary injury/death. Also, he thinks that we are not very aware of where these birds are, and do not know when they get hit by a vehicle - and so therefore when a cassowary is injured by a car they are just left to "wander off and die alone, uncounted and unremembered in the scrub". The public finds the cassowary a "precious keystone species" and believes that the cassowary is something that we cannot afford to lose - yet we are risking anyway. Russell says that he thinks that we are not caring enough about the cassowary, and are instead just gambling with its future. He finds that these losses should not be tolerated, and that there are too many cassowaries dying from vehicle collisions. |
Conservationists:
Conservationists believe that we must save the cassowary because of how imperative it is to the world that we live in. It is a 'keystone' species because it leaves the seeds of the fruit that it eats behind in its droppings, thus playing a vital role as the 'rainforest gardener'. Conservationists believe that this is one of the main reasons why we must save them. For example, Rainforest Rescue's website (dedicated solely to saving the cassowary) 'Save the Cassowary' said that "Many plants depend on the Cassowary for survival. Without them, the future of the rainforest is in peril." Conservationists believe that the issue is that threats such as cars, dogs and urban development are becoming more common, without enough people thinking and caring about the cassowary. On Rainforest Rescue's same website it says "The Southern Cassowary is Endangered, there are believed to be fewer than 1,000 left in the wild. It is now under increased threat from loss of habitat due to development, cars, dog attacks and natural disasters." Conservationists think that people aren't caring about the cassowary enough or don't know much about what is happening, which is why the cassowary's numbers declined. This is why many have set up websites and teach and educate people about the cassowary and its condition. Some also believe that people do not care because they think that the cassowary is extremely dangerous, and they are scared of the cassowary. However, conservationists said and proved that cassowaries are shy by nature and only pose a threat to humans if they are provoked, threatened or defending their nests or chicks. |