Tonight on Channel 4 at 8pm: Inside Natures Giants: a look at the strange and aggressive Cassowary. You've been warned.Claire
Oh, interesting!! Thanks for the tip-off. I think I'll watch that!
:-)
Andy
Seriously thinking about trying harder!
just watching this now,what a bird,fancy that turning up on your garden feeders.Bet there would be no reports of Sparrowhawks taking these from the bird tables.
Pete
Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can
Blimey, what a fantastic bird! Bit scary though.
Cheers, Linda.
See my photos on Flickr
Yep, I watched it too. Really fascinating, and so much there to back up the evolutionary theory of birds coming from dinosaurs.
Just imagine trying to devise a Cassowary deterrent from your bird feeders.... ;)
Hi- a friend of mine leading a bird tour was walking a trail on a hillside when he heard a loud crashing from the trees to his left and suddenly a man ran across the path in front of him and down the hill through the trees yelling 'CASSOWARYYYYYYYYYYY' !
The running man was followed by a Cassowary......
S
For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides, binoculars, scopes, tripods, etc - put 'Birding Tips' into the search box
Question: is it possible to outrun a cassowary.. i guess you don't bog yourself down with this detail when you are running for your life?
I saw that! It was excellent. Was trying to figure out why the much bigger ostrich does not have human fatalities to its name, but decided it was probably because ostriches live in open spaces so when they're in danger they can easily run away, and they're built to be really fast. The cassowary lives in jungles so it's more likely to be cornered. Also judging by the program, its kick is the kind of thing that could kill you instantly by disembowelment! Oo-er. :S
I'm sure when I was a kid I went to a bird zoo that had cassowarys. Can't remember where but there was a sign on the cage saying 'dangerous bird'.
Mori - Ostriches have killed people, they can be very dangerous in the breeding season when the males are pumped full of testosterone and primed to fight for the ladies. Being killed by an ostrich though doesn't make as good headlines as cassowary that most people haven't heard of and therefore it can be made into the big deadly killer dinosaur-bird that hides behind trees waiting to disembowl an unsuspecting backpacker and steal his iPod.
Seaman - I don't think I'd WANT to see a sparrowhawk that could tackle a cassowary, now that WOULD go carrying off all the little children lol
Millie & Fly the Border Collies
Wow, never knew that! Always thought ostriches were quite gentle since people ride them and stuff, and zoos have them just wandering up to visitors and things. But I suppose they probably don't ride or exhibit breeding males.
I think animals, especially birds, killing humans is usually quite sensational as it doesn't generally happen that often.