Thank you, that was an ear-opening video--I had no idea.
I do remember this Awl article from a while back:
Some men shoot tigers. Some men love bears. Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, Major in the Yeomanry, Conservative MP for Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, heir to one of the greatest banking fortunes in history, and collector of the largest zoological collection ever amassed in private hands, had a specific and incurable addiction to cassowaries. He bred them. He stuffed them. He gathered living representatives of every known species and sub-species at his parents’ manor house in Hertfordshire. Bewitched by their beautiful and highly variable neck wattles, he identified new species where there were none. He wrote a book, A Monograph of the Genus Casuarius, about them and made excuses for them, and he could never get enough.
Ratites (flightless birds) and Tinamous (Chicken-like bird from Americas) were the first to split off from the other birds so I suppose you could argue they'd be the most dinosaur-y evolutionarily. All birds are technically Dinosaurs as far as taxonomy is concerned.
Forget the crocs, taipans, funnel-webs, box jellies, drop bears, etc.... It's the Cassowaries you need to remember not to fuck with. Those fuckers are huge and mean.
Absolutely do not forget the crocs, they're the ones who can and do kill people who they cross paths with. Which is becoming more and regular as they expand their territory.
I came across one in a Mission Beach forest far north Queensland in the early 2000's. I ducked behind the nearest tree. When it came to check me out, I just moved around the tree and kept doing that as it persisted to check me out. It didn't appear pissed off. It was just curious I think. After doing this for about 5 minutes it walked off.
I can confirm that it is a big bugger and had big fat legs.
One of the keepers at the Sydney Wildlife Zoo told me their cassowary seemed to get lonely when there were no people to watch (I visited in-between lockdowns).
Which, uh, obviously doesn't fit their reputation.
If you visit on a day that isn't too busy around the time of the keeper talk, they'll let you feed the cassowary for a small donation. You have to do it from outside of the pen though.
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[ 0.17 ms ] story [ 54.1 ms ] threadI do remember this Awl article from a while back:
Some men shoot tigers. Some men love bears. Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, Major in the Yeomanry, Conservative MP for Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, heir to one of the greatest banking fortunes in history, and collector of the largest zoological collection ever amassed in private hands, had a specific and incurable addiction to cassowaries. He bred them. He stuffed them. He gathered living representatives of every known species and sub-species at his parents’ manor house in Hertfordshire. Bewitched by their beautiful and highly variable neck wattles, he identified new species where there were none. He wrote a book, A Monograph of the Genus Casuarius, about them and made excuses for them, and he could never get enough.
https://www.theawl.com/2016/04/a-natural-history-of-walter-r...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55G4XwtpNak
The hairy-nosed wombat is another Australian animal that is cute and cuddly as a baby, but turn aggressive on reaching adulthood.
I can confirm that it is a big bugger and had big fat legs.
Which, uh, obviously doesn't fit their reputation.
If you visit on a day that isn't too busy around the time of the keeper talk, they'll let you feed the cassowary for a small donation. You have to do it from outside of the pen though.