cassowaries

Famed for their long talons – their dagger-like middle claws measure 12cm long – and powerful legs, the birds, which are unique to the rainforests of northern Australia, are said to be able to disembowel humans, dogs and horses with just one kick.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/images/2007/05/23/cassowary_350x470.jpg

In 1926 Philip McClean, 16, was killed after he and his brother attempted to beat a cassowary to death. The bird fought back, charging at McClean and knocking him down and slashing his neck with a claw.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Jurong_Southern_Cassowary.jpg/470px-Jurong_Southern_Cassowary.jpg

i love animals that go out of their way to be assholes to humans

http://www.buzzle.com/img/articleImages/511218-55med.jpg

"hi-yah"!
http://listverse.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/cassowary-attack-2-tm.jpg?w=400&h=300

Ha at Philip McClean btw!

karma cassowary, right

Definite dinosaur thing going on there

i love animals that go out of their way to be assholes to humans

― lex pretend, Sunday, February 13, 2011 10:46 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

haahahaha

i was up in the daintree rainforest near port douglas last year and we ended up being just a few metres away from a mother and baby cassowary. they were on the side of the road and we were in a car so there was no danger, and we stopped so we wouldn't frighten them. they were an appealing pair. the baby was young enough to still be fuzzy and the mother appeared to be teaching it basic introductory cassowary tricks. i have no idea why philip mclean, 16, would want to kill one.

i would like to learn basic introductory cassowary tricks, they sound like they could be useful.

yes, i was a bit wistful.

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/fruit-flown-in-for-hungry-cassowaries-20110211-1ap31.html

the cassowary in that photo looks ROYAL

such a sleek coat

Kind of wonder what kind of food is getting helicoptered in. More Philip McCleans?

My favorite cassowary fact:

Cassowaries feed on the fruits of several hundred rainforest species and usually pass viable seeds in large dense scats. They are known to disperse seeds over distances greater than a kilometre, and thus play an important role in the ecosystem. Germination rates for seeds of the rare Australian rainforest tree Ryparosa were found to be much higher after passing through a cassowary's gut (92% versus 4%).

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3646/3333193400_4ab9b38f1a.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0wsiLWLQLU&feature=related

x-post pretty awesome

Cassowaries are awesome. Some people we know living up in north Queensland regularly have them coming into their garden to eat fruit.

chill ass cassowaries

We stayed in Mission Beach a few years ago, and went down to the edge of town, where you can see wild wallabies. So we were just stood at the bottom of this hill, watching the wallabies, which was exciting enough for me, and then out of the trees at the top of the hill came a cassowary and two chicks. Far enough away not to be scary but close enough to get a really good look. They just walked across the top of the hill and back into the woods, maybe in the open for five minutes. It was a real lost world moment, as they move exactly how you imagine dinosaurs would. They are up to 2 metres tall! This one was maybe a bit less than that but definitely taller than me, and they look much more upright than in the photos. Anyway, amazing stuff.

how i was introduced to Abbott years ago:

I have decided the cassowary is the mandrill of the BIRD world. Fucking asshole birds they are.

― Abbott (Abbott), Friday, November 10, 2006 5:56 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
cassowaries are the birds with the poison spike on their feet, right?

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, November 10, 2006 6:00 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
from wikipedia:

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, disemboweling it with a single kick.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, November 10, 2006 6:01 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
ASSHOLES, see?

― Abbott (Abbott), Friday, November 10, 2006 6:03 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
actually, they sound kinda ... KEWL.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, November 10, 2006 6:05 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark

still one of my favorite exchanges with an ILXor :D

i like your cassowary story, citizen smith.

I still would not fuck with these dudes. I saw an emu tear my mom's arm open once (and this tiny little glop of adipose tissue fell onto the ground...yuck). She had to get surgery. That was just an emu, the cassowary cousin that seems far more benign. Everything in this thread confirms what I thought about cassowaries. Though that fact about Ryparosa seeds is awesome!

Actually I do like these dudes – the dianosaur thing is right – they are like moas w/a Napoleon complex.

Thread of the year so far btw, lex!

http://images.travbuddy.com/1591092_12566032831942.jpg

I should add that my son, who was 18 months old, would call out "big duck" whenever we saw this sign.

hahahaha BIG DUCK! That is so cute.

omg at Abbott's mom story. would also def not fuck with these dudes.