Editing Cassowary (section)

== Behaviour and ecology ==
Cassowaries are solitary birds except during courtship, egg-laying, and sometimes around ample food supplies.{{r|Davies2003}} Males and females each maintain separate territories that overlap, of a size of approximately 3 square kilometres in one study.<ref>Bentrupperbaumer, Joan (1997). ''R[https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/9389/3/03section_2.pdf#page=60 eciprocal ecosystem impact and behavioural interactions between cassowaries, Casuarius casuarius, and humans, homo sapiens: exploring the natural-human environment interface and its implications for endangered species recovery in North Queensland, Australia]'' [https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/9389/3/03section_2.pdf#page=60 (phd thesis)]. James Cook University. Section 2 Page 154 (thesis) or 60 (pdf)</ref> While females move among satellite territories of different males, they appear to remain within the same territories for most of their lives, mating with the same, or closely related, males over the course of their lives.<ref name=":1">{{Cite thesis |title=Reciprocal ecosystem impact and behavioural interactions between cassowaries, Casuarius casuarius, and humans, homo sapiens: exploring the natural-human environment interface and its implications for endangered species recovery in North Queensland, Australia |url=https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/9389/ |publisher=James Cook University |date=1997 |degree=phd |language=en |first=Joan |last=Bentrupperbaumer}} Section 3, page 114(pdf) 208(on-page numbering). </ref>

Courtship and pair-bonding rituals begin with the vibratory sounds broadcast by females. Males approach and run with their necks parallel to the ground while making dramatic movements of their heads, which accentuate the frontal neck region. The female approaches drumming slowly. The male crouches on the ground, and the female either steps on the male's back for a moment before crouching beside him in preparation for copulation, or she may attack. This is often the case with the females pursuing the males in ritualistic chasing behaviours that generally terminate in water. The male cassowary dives into water and submerges himself up to his upper neck and head. The female pursues him into the water, where he eventually drives her to the shallows, where she crouches making ritualistic motions of her head. The two may remain in copulation for extended periods of time. In some cases, another male may approach and run off the first male. He will climb onto her to copulate, as well.{{fact|date=January 2022}}

Both male and female cassowaries do not tolerate the presence of others of the same sex, but females are more prone to fight than males, which will generally flee when encountering another male. While males and females may also be territorial and confrontational, this decreases during the mating season<ref name=":1" />

=== Reproduction ===
[[File:Casuarius casuarius -Artis Zoo, Netherlands -chick-8b.jpg|thumb|Juvenile southern cassowary]]
The cassowary breeding season starts in May to June. Females lay three to eight large, bright green or pale green-blue [[Bird egg|eggs]] in each clutch into a heap of leaf litter prepared by the male.{{r|Davies2003}} The eggs measure about {{convert|9|by|14|cm|in|abbr=on}} – only ostrich and emu eggs are larger.

The male [[Avian incubation|incubates]] those eggs for 50–52 days, removing or adding litter to regulate the temperature, then protects the chicks, which stay in the nest for about 9 months. He defends them fiercely against all potential predators, including humans. The young males later go off to find a territory of their own.{{r|Davies2003}}

The female does not care for the eggs or the chicks, but rather moves on within her territory to lay eggs in the nests of several other males. Young cassowaries are brown and have buffy stripes. They are often kept as pets in native villages (in New Guinea), where they are permitted to roam like barnyard fowl until nearing maturity. Caged birds are regularly bereft of their fresh plumes.{{r|Gilliard1958_23}}

=== Diet ===

Fruit from at least 26 plant families has been documented in the diet of cassowaries. Fruits from the [[laurus nobilis|laurel]], [[podocarp]], palm, wild grape, [[nightshade]], and myrtle families are important items in the diet.{{r|Davies2003}} The poisonous [[cassowary plum]] takes its name from the bird. The bird avoids the poisons of these fruits due to the presence of their incredibly short gastrointestinal tract, the shortest of all ratites in relation to their size.<ref name=cairns>{{cite web|title=Captive Management Guidelines for the Southern Cassowary Casuarius casuarius johnsonii|last=Biggs| first=James R.|date=2013|publisher=Cairns Tropical Zoo|page= 23–24, 73–77|url=https://aszk.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Southern-Cassowary-Casuarius-casuarius-johnsonii-Biggs-J.-2013.pdf}}</ref> The cassowary's incredibly short and simple digestive tract leads to a short gut retention time which allow seeds to remain unharmed during the comparatively soft digestion process and allows them to consume fruits that contain toxins such as [[cyanogen]]s.<ref name=cairns/> 

Where trees are dropping fruit, cassowaries come in and feed, with each bird defending a tree from others for a few days. They move on when the fruit is depleted. Fruit, even items as large as [[banana]]s and apples, is swallowed whole. Cassowaries are a [[keystone species]] of rain forests because they eat fallen fruit whole and distribute seeds across the jungle floor via excrement.{{r|Davies2003}}

Adult and young cassowaries also practice [[coprophagia]]. As adult waste often contain half-digested fruit which still has nutritional value, so the birds would devour each other's as well as their own droppings.<ref>{{cite web| title=10 Colorful Facts About Cassowaries| url=https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/80394/10-facts-about-cassowaries| website=Mental Floss| last=Mancini| first=Mark| date=April 19, 2019}}</ref><ref name=ADW/>

In more urbanised areas, especially in [[Queensland]], [[Australia]], 'urbanised' cassowaries have adopted to also feed on picnic blankets, tables and baskets or backyard bird feeders and compost heaps, thereby consuming a wide range of non-natural and non-native foods as well.<ref name="NationalRecovery">{{cite web| title=National Recovery Plan for the Southern Cassowary Casuarius casuarius johnsonii| last=Dennis| first=Andrew J.| year=2023| publisher=Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water| location=Canberra| page=19| url=https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/draft-national-recovery-plan-southern-cassowary.pdf| access-date=July 3, 2023| archive-date=July 3, 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703065809/https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/draft-national-recovery-plan-southern-cassowary.pdf| url-status=dead}}</ref> In fact, cassowaries are known to eat non-edible items—in one case, collection of urban cassowary droppings resulted in many unusual items. Outside of the skeletal remains of a [[honeyeater]], researchers also found remains of a child’s coloured building blocks, various sized marbles and a very small plastic car that came from a cereal packet.<ref name="Daintree">{{cite web| title=Cassowary Foods| website=Daintree Cassowaries| url=http://www.daintreecassowary.org.au/cassowary-foods}}</ref> In terms of roadkill, discarded fish was reported; another type of roadkill reported eaten by cassowaries is the [[bandicoot]].<ref name="Daintree"/><ref name="australiangeographic">{{cite web| title=Jungle royalty: the enigmatic cassowary| last=Pickrell| first=John| date=2019| issue=152|url=https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2019/10/jungle-royalty-the-enigmatic-cassowary/| website=Australian Geographic}}</ref>

In captivity, cassowaries get the majority of their protein source from dog or monkey food.<ref name=ADW>{{cite web| title=Casuarius unappendiculatusnorthern cassowary| last=Neikirk| first=Rose|url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Casuarius_unappendiculatus/| website=Animal Diversity Web}}</ref> In fact, captive cassowaries consume almost {{cvt|1|l}} of a protein source (such as dog food) in conjunction with {{cvt|19|l}} of fruit a day, which results in 5% of their overall diet.<ref name=ADW/>

=== Role in seed dispersal and germination ===
[[File:Cassowary faeces.jpg|thumb|Cassowary feces, containing traces of seeds]]
Cassowaries feed on the fruit of several hundred rainforest species and usually pass viable seeds in large, dense [[Feces|scats]]. They are known to disperse seeds over distances greater than a kilometre, thus playing an important role in the ecosystem. Germination rates for seeds of the rare Australian rainforest tree ''[[Ryparosa]]'' were found to be much higher after passing through a cassowary's gut (92% versus 4%).{{sfnp|Webber|Woodrow|2004|}}

=== Threats ===
In its main home of [[New Guinea]], cassowaries are the island's largest and most dominant and formidable [[bird]], as well as being one of the largest terrestrial endemic animals in New Guinea. As such, adult cassowaries have no natural enemies other than [[human]]s (and even then, the birds are rarely hunted due to their reputation, speed, wariness and self-defence, with juveniles being preferred over adults for ceremonial purposes - on average, it is considered very fortunate for a human hunter to kill one in every five years<ref name=ADW/>). With regards to their relationship with the [[New Guinea singing dog]]s - one of Papua's only obligate terrestrial apex predators, with the other being the [[crocodile monitor]] - adult birds generally ignore them, with some even believing that the dogs take full advantage of the birds' foraging behaviour, as both species share and use the same feeding trail through the forests.<ref name=indog>{{cite web|title=The New Guinea Singing Dog|website=The INDog|url=https://indog.co.in/the-new-guinea-singing-dog/}}</ref><ref name=NGScience>{{cite web|title=Notes on behaviour of New Guinea singing dogs (Canis lupus dingo)|website=ResearchGate|publisher=Science in New Guinea|issue=22|volume=1|date=January 1996|last=Bino|first=Robert|pages=46–47|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/294359615}}</ref> It was believed that these dogs follow adult birds to catch small prey attracted to the dropped fruits on the rainforest floor. Nevertheless, there was a report from a native hunter of an exceptionally rare case of a singing dog attacking the [[dwarf cassowary|dwarf species]].<ref name=indog/><ref name=NGScience/> The incident ended with the singing dog being disemboweled and ripped open by the bird.<ref name=indog/><ref name=NGScience/> But generally speaking, both animals mutually keep their distance and avoid one another.<ref name=NGScience/>

Cassowary chicks are vulnerable to large [[Pythonidae|python]]s, [[monitor lizard]]s, [[New Guinea singing dog]]s, and [[Papuan eagle]]s. When threatened, it is known that cassowary chicks emit different vocalisation calls to indicate the specific threat, such as a hawk for example, before running underneath their father.<ref name="australiangeographic"/> Adult males aggressively defend their chicks. While adult males usually scare off or kill most predators, a chick will occasionally be separated in the chaos and become a potential target.<ref>Roots, Clive. Flightless birds. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006.</ref> 

However, in the relic populations of north-eastern [[Australia]], the cassowary population faces threats from [[vehicle]]s, and are in danger of being outcompeted by [[wild boar]]s, with their eggs being most vulnerable to boar predation.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb1bbIyF9OU&t=170s|title= Giant Cassowaries are Modern-day Dinosaurs|date= 2019 |website= YouTube}}</ref> Their chicks also face dangers and predation from [[domesticated dog]]s, which results in a widespread decline in the Australian mainland. Because of such frequent inter-species conflicts, hunting dogs are one of the biggest enemies for cassowaries, and it is not unheard of for hunting dogs to accidentally kill cassowary chicks instead of feral pigs, with the dogs in turn being killed by the nearby adult rooster.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.wettropics.gov.au/cassowaries|title= Cassowaries|website= Wet Tropics}}</ref> Outside of threats from invasive species, the birds are also vulnerable to being unintentionally poisoned as well. It is unknown why the cassowary population in Australia is in decline, as the New Guinea population has dealt with introduced [[wild boars]], [[dogs]] and [[feral cats]] for thousands of years longer with little to no impact on its population, suggesting that either the cassowaries of New Guinea had long adapted to human-introduced species or that the rich biodiversity of New Guinea allowed for additional [[niche partition]]ing.<ref>{{cite book| title=Biogeography and ecology of New Guinea| last=Bulmer| first=S.| year=1982| publisher=Junk| location=The Hague}}</ref>

As for eating the cassowary, it is supposed to be quite tough. Australian administrative officers stationed in New Guinea were advised that it "should be cooked with a stone in the pot: when the stone is ready to eat, so is the cassowary".<ref>Vader, John, ''New Guinea: The Tide is Stemmed.'' NY, Ballantine Books: 1971, p. 35.</ref>