10 Amazing Bird Facts (Cassowary)

What do you know about the second largest living bird in the world? The cassowary is a large species of flight-less bird, that is natively found in the forests of Papua New Guinea and on it’s surrounding islands. The cassowary is closely related to other large flight-less birds including emus and ostriches and is the third tallest and second heaviest bird in the world behind these two.

Fast Facts about Cassowaries

1. Cassowary is very large bird. It is slightly smaller than emu and ostrich. Cassowary reaches 59 to 79 inches (4.9–5.9 ft), although some females may reach 2 metres (6.6 ft) in height and between 55 and 129 pounds in weight. Females are larger than males.

2. The cassowary cannot fly and so has developed the need to run, and incredibly fast, as these large birds are able to sprint through the jungle at speeds of more than 30mph. The cassowary also has large, sharp claws which aid the cassowary in defending itself from danger.

Also read: 10 Amazing Bird Facts (The Kingfisher)

3. The most distinctive features of the cassowary are it’s large body size and brightly coloured feathers (females are more colourful than their male counterparts), and the large, spongy crest that protrudes from the top of the cassowary’s head, which can grow to 18 cm in height.

4. Cassowaries are generally solitary birds, coming together only to mate during the breeding season.

5. The cassowary breeding season is thought to be from May to June when the female cassowary lays up to 8 large, dark eggs into a nest on the ground made from leaf litter.

6. The male cassowary is solely responsible for incubating the eggs and raising the young. They sit on the nest for 50 days until the eggs hatch.

7. Most of the time, however, cassowaries seem smaller than they are, because they don’t walk in the stretched-up position but slouch along with their backs parallel to the ground.

8. Young cassowaries are brown and covered in stripes. They will learn how to find food, catch insects, worms, snails and frogs from their guardian.

Also Read: 10 Amazing Bird Facts (The Common Loon)

9. Cassowaries are also excellent swimmers that can swim long distances. Cassowaries cannot fly due to lack of chest bone that supports muscles used for flying. Even though they cannot fly, they are very fast runners. Cassowary can run 31 miles per hour and jump up to 5 feet in the air.

10. Cassowary can survive 12-19 years in the wild and between 40 and 50 in captivity.