Our
Grower's Farms
David & Nerinda
Singh's Farm - Cardwell
 |
| Cassowarys
are frequently sighted on the farm - our Environmental
Management System & Ecoganic
Protocol ensure Critical species such as the Cassowary
are protected. |
Important Information
Unique bird
In Australia, the
cassowary is found in far north Queensland's tropical
rainforests, melaleuca swamps and mangrove forests.
Cassowary
Casuarius casuarius johnsonii: As
tall as a person, with a high helmet on its head, a vivid
blue neck and long drooping red wattles - this is the southern
cassowary, found only in the tropical rainforests of north-east
Queensland, Papua New Guinea and some surrounding islands.
Conservation status
Common name: southern cassowary
Species name: Casuarius
casuarius johnsonii Family: Casuariidae (cassowaries
and emus)
Conservation status: The southern cassowary
is listed as Endangered nationally (Environment Protection
and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC)).
Did you
know?
The cassowary is Australia's heaviest flightless
bird but the emu is taller.
Habitat and distribution
The cassowary distribution in Queensland. At the time of European settlement
of Australia, the cassowary lived in tropical rainforests of north-east
Queensland, from Paluma Range (north of Townsville) to
the tip of Cape York.
Their present distribution
remains similar but is greatly reduced and fragmented
by forest clearing.
On Cape York, they
now occur in two separate populations: a southern population
in the vine forests of the McIlwraith and Iron ranges
and a northern population in the less extensive vine
forests north of Shelburne Bay.
Cassowary habitat
in the Wet Tropics has since been greatly reduced by
land clearing, so cassowary numbers have decreased. Cassowaries
are now found in three broad populations. In the Wet
Tropics cassowaries are distributed widely from Cooktown
to Paluma Range. Approximately 89% of their remaining
essential habitat in the Wet Tropics lies within protected
tenures.
Cassowaries require
a high diversity of fruiting trees to provide a year-round
supply of fleshy fruits. Although occurring primarily
in rainforest, they also use woodlands, melaleuca swamps,
mangroves and even beaches, both as intermittent food
sources and as connecting habitat between more suitable
sites. Places with a mix of these environments are preferred
by cassowaries that live on the coast.
Diet
Cassowaries prefer
fallen fruit, but will eat small vertebrates, invertebrates,
fungi, carrion and plants. Over 238 species of plants
have been recorded in the cassowary diet.
Cassowaries
play an important role in maintaining the diversity of
rainforest trees. Cassowaries are one of only a few frugivores
(fruit eaters) that can disperse large rainforest fruits
and are the only long distance dispersal vector for large
seeded fruits.
They swallow the fruit
whole, digesting the pulp and passing the seeds unharmed
in large piles of dung, distributing them over large
areas throughout the rainforest. Some rainforest seeds
even require the cassowary digestive process to help
them germinate. Dung is large, often containing hundreds
if not thousands of seeds.
A ready-made fertiliser,
the dung helps many kinds of seed to grow. White-tailed
rats, bush rats, melomys and musky rat-kangaroos sometimes
feed on seeds in cassowary droppings, helping to further
distribute the seeds.
How can you help cassowaries?
Everyone can help protect our remaining cassowaries.
If you live in or visit cassowary territory, follow these
tips.
- Leave vegetation
on your property, especially in gully heads and along
creek banks, as feeding grounds and corridors for cassowaries.
- Be careful when
driving. Slow down to avoid hitting any animals, but
don't stop to watch them.
- Restrain your
dog and cat, especially when cassowaries are around.
- Never
feed cassowaries, especially on the side of the road
where they might get hit by passing cars.
- Let cassowaries
find their own food. If you feed them, they could come
to depend on you, their health will suffer and they may
starve when you go away or move elsewhere. It is also
possible that they then may become aggressive to other
people.
Source:
Queensland Government, Department of Environment
and Resources, Environment and Resource Management - 23/10/09,
Retrieved September 30, 2011 from the Queensland Government
Site, http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/wildlife-ecosystems/wildlife/threatened_plants_and_animals/endangered/cassowary.html#fast_facts
