Editing Cassowary (section)

=== Urbanisation of local cassowary population ===

In extremely urbanised areas where cassowaries used to naturally live such as in Queensland, Australia or in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, the local cassowary population had adapted to its less forested grounds. Increasing urbanisation has increased the likelihood of human-cassowary interaction, a potentially dangerous mix.<ref name="RecoveryPlan">{{cite web| title=Recovery plan for the southern cassowary Casuarius casuarius johnsonii| last=Latch| first=Peter| year=2007| publisher=Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts| location=Canberra| pages=23–24| url=https://www.agriculture.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/sth-cassowary.pdf}}</ref> Although cassowary populations have faced challenges in these urban areas in Northeastern Australia and parts of New Guinea, the cassowaries have proven to be surprisingly quite adaptable in contrast to the [[Kiwi (bird)|kiwis]] of [[New Zealand]], potentially making them the largest urbanised birds in the world. 

It was found that cassowaries in these urban environments changed their diets accordingly, with urbanised cassowaries actually consuming an even greater proportion of fruits from exotic plants (~30%) but still incorporating a significant proportion of fruits from native plants in their diet.<ref name="AustralEcology">{{cite journal| title=The southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii) remains an important disperser of native plants in fragmented rainforest landscapes|author1-last=Campbell | author1-first=Mariana A. |author2-last=Lawton | author2-first=Tom |author3-last=Udyawer| author3-first=Vinay |author4-last=Bell-Anderson| author4-first=Kim S. |author5-last=Westcott| author5-first=David |author6-last=Campbell| author6-first=Hamish A.| year=2023| journal=Austral Ecology|volume=48 |issue=4 |pages=787–802 | location=Australia| doi=10.1111/aec.13309| doi-access=free|bibcode=2023AusEc..48..787C }}</ref> Likewise, as aforementioned, the high concentration of human activity in the urban ecology also equates to a higher concentration of food diversity and food waste, with these 'urbanised' cassowaries foraging for food scraps, bird feeders and outdoor picnic/food venues without fear from humans or domesticated animals due to the birds' size and reputation.<ref name="NationalRecovery"/> 

Due to their omnivorous nature, cassowaries are able to eat all types of human food, including processed ones if interested, although fruit still remains their favourite choosings.<ref name="NationalRecovery"/><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elyUp3jPrqg|title= Cassowary bird tries to steal a woman's lunch|date= 2023  |website= YouTube}}</ref> A 2013 study from post-mortem investigations found that a combination of fruit scarcity and abundancy in human waste saw the diet of the cassowary intaking vast quantities of non-fruit items, this include fungus, carrion, meat, cheese, bones, pasta, chilli and tomato.<ref name=cairns/> The high concentration of human activity as well as vehicles, mixed with domesticated animals and less forest coverage, had also changed their behaviours. These 'city' cassowaries were shown to exist in a higher state of activity and rested less than individuals inhabiting more intact swathes of rainforest, actively moving between urban gardens and the rainforest.<ref name="AustralEcology"/> The study give evidence that these birds showed a surprising amount of flexible foraging strategy that has enabled them to persist in rainforest-fragmented landscapes.<ref name="AustralEcology"/>