ARMED with fearsome claws, the flightless cassowary, described as the world’s most dangerous bird, can leap, kick, and rip, with overwhelming force.

The Colorful Cassowary—Friend of the Rain Forest

Weighing between 70 and 130 pounds [30 and 60 kg], the southern, or double-wattled, cassowary of the lush rain forests of northeastern Australia and of New Guinea is a beautiful but solitary bird. Standing about six feet [2 m] tall, the female is larger than the male and—unusual for a bird—is slightly more colorful than the male, who outside the mating season wisely keeps out of her way. After mating, the female lays a clutch of lustrous green eggs, but then she just wanders off, leaving the male to incubate them and care for the brood. She then mates with other males and leaves each of them with a clutch to care for!

Deforestation, however, is taking a toll on the cassowaries. In an attempt to increase their numbers, the Billabong Sanctuary near Townsville, Queensland, has instituted a captive-breeding program aimed at releasing birds back into the wild when they are old enough. Although omnivorous, cassowaries primarily eat fruit, which they swallow whole. Thus, seeds of over a hundred species of plants travel undigested through the bird’s gut and get widely dispersed throughout the forest in a protective and nutritious dollop of fertilizer. This, say the sanctuary experts, may make the cassowary a keystone species, in that considerable secondary extinction would follow its disappearance. But is the bird dangerous to humans?

Only to foolish persons who get too near. In reality, humans are a far greater threat to the cassowary than it has ever been to them. In the murky shadows of the rain forest, the bird will sound a deep guttural rumble to warn you it is near. Take the hint; go no closer. In all likelihood, it will charge off through the undergrowth, using its tough casque, or helmet, to protect its head. But when cornered or wounded or when protecting its young, it may attack if you get too near.