Cassowary
The Southern Cassowary is a real beauty, with its sleek, black
feathered body, bright blue neck, and deep red wattles. They are
the third- largest bird in the world, behind their relatives the
ostrich and the emu, with some specimens weighing up to 70
kilograms and towering up to 1.5 metres tall!
Introducing Princess...
Here at WILD LIFE Sydney, we have one cassowary, affectionately
named Princess. Despite his rather girly name, he is actually a
male……just a cassowary whom happens to be very high
maintenance!
Princess loves to have showers to cool down in the summer,
however he doesn't like to get his feet wet above his ankles!
Cassowaries are considered to be the world's deadliest birds,
with a razor sharp claw, and a huge casque on their head. When the
keepers go in to tend to Princess, they do so behind a 'cassowary
shield'. This can make doing work within the display tricky as
multiple staff are required to carry the shield, keep an eye on
Princess, and get the work done. Despite all this effort, Princess
never seems very impressed when the keepers make any changes to his
home.
Princess is an impressive cassowary, with beautiful long
eyelashes. Watching Princess explore the Daintree Rainforest
display at WILD LIFE Sydney will delight adults and children of all
ages!
The Australian population of the Southern Cassowary has suffered
a severe decline in numbers due to the destruction of their
habitat, vehicle strikes, dog attacks and competition and predation
by feral animals.
Back to Daintree
Rainforest
