Northern Cassowary
Other common names: One wattled/Single wattled Cassowary
It has hard and stiff black plumage, blue facial skin and a casque on top of the head. It has a bright red or yellow colored neck and wattle. The feet are huge and strong with long, dagger-like claw on its inner toe. The sexes are similar. The male, at 30 kg, is smaller than female, at 58 kg, making it the worlds third heaviest living bird species after the Ostrich and Southern Cassowary. These birds measure 149 cm long and stand 1.5–1.8 m in height.
Taxonomy: Four subspecies (unappendiculatus, occipitalis, aurantiacus and philipi) or more traditionally recognized, but good evidence for their validity lacking. Monotypic.
Vulnerable
Due to ongoing habitat lost and overhunting in some areas, the Northern Cassowary is evaluated as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, with hunting being the biggest threat. Native people use the bones and eggs, and take the chicks to be raised for meat. As logging opens up more areas of the forest, hunting will be more of a problem. Their occurrence range is 186,000 km2 and a 2000 estimate placed their numbers at 9300.
Declining
Northern Cassowary
Other common names: One wattled/Single wattled Cassowary
It has hard and stiff black plumage, blue facial skin and a casque on top of the head. It has a bright red or yellow colored neck and wattle. The feet are huge and strong with long, dagger-like claw on its inner toe. The sexes are similar. The male, at 30 kg, is smaller than female, at 58 kg, making it the worlds third heaviest living bird species after the Ostrich and Southern Cassowary. These birds measure 149 cm long and stand 1.5–1.8 m in height.
Taxonomy: Four subspecies (unappendiculatus, occipitalis, aurantiacus and philipi) or more traditionally recognized, but good evidence for their validity lacking. Monotypic.
It is a shy and solitary bird. They make grunting and hissing sounds. In breeding season, the polygamous female lays three to five green eggs on a well camouflaged nest prepared by male, she leaves the nest and eggs to find another mate. The male raises the chicks alone for about nine months.
The male has 30 kg and female 58 kg. Birds measure 149 cm in length and 1.5–1.8 m in height.
Taxonomy:
- Casuarius unappendiculatus Blyth, 1860, no locality. Four subspecies (unappendiculatus, occipitalis, aurantiacus and philipi) or more traditionally recognized, but good evidence for their validity lacking (see page 90). Monotypic. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
North of New Guinea, and nearby Japen I and Salawati I.
They prefer elevations below 490 m.
Feeds on large fruits collected from forest ground.