Kathleen Kendi, age 12, of Whitney, Pennsylvania, for her question:
What kind of bird is a cassowary?
A flying bird must keep his weight down to 30 pounds or less. The cassowary's remote ancestors may have taken to the air. But for ages, his relatives have been much too heavy to hoist themselves above the ground. We class the ostrich, the emu and the cassowary as flightless ratite birds.
The safest way to observe a cassowary is from the other side of a fence a strong fence, well over six feet high. The huge, gaudy fellow is rated as the most dangerous bird in the world and he is quite strong enough to kill a grown man. He may appear to be tame and friendly, especially when young. But the tamest cassowary can never be trusted = so when you visit him in a zoo, be sure to stay on your side of the fence.
The average cassowary stands about four feet tall. He stands up straight on sturdy legs and the bulk of his thick body is covered with hairy threads of glossy black feathers. These features are not very noticeable. But the cassowary has an eye catching neck and a very unusual head.
His neck is bald and decorated with hanging flaps of skin called wattles. The wattles are daubed with assorted patches of red and purple, blue and yellow. His head is helmeted with a blade sharp casque that looks like a high, bony crown. Each foot is formed from three long toes and the longer middle toe ends in a dagger sharp claw.
The cassowary's wings are hidden under his feathers and they are much too small and weak to lift his bulky body. But though he cannot fly, the big bird is very spry both on land and in water. He can sprint along at 40 miles an hour and leap over a six foot fence with ease. He often bathes in the sea and he can swim across the current of a turbulent river with no trouble at all.
Various cassowary cousins. enjoy life along the northern shores of Australia, on New Guinea and outer nearby islands. They like shaded forests and though their deep, throaty croaks can be heard from afar, they are seldom seen in the open. As a rule, they wander around at dusk and early dawn in small groups, foraging for fruit and bugs and green food. The people of New Guinea often trap them and keep them in enclosures surrounded by high fences. They fatten the big birds up for their holiday feasts. Sometimes they use quill feathers from the cassowary as a kind of money. Some of these wing feathers are like knitting needles and some are shaped like little pitchforks.
The cassowary parents build a nest on the ground by lining a gentle hollow with grassy mosses. Mrs. Cassowary's duty is done when she lays the eggs, they are the color of green pears and there may be seven of them. Mr. Cassowary then nestles himself down on the nest and incubates them for seven patient weeks. The young chicks are clothed in soft, downy stripes of brown and buff arid the proud father refuses to let anybody take a turn at baby sitting even their mother.