Editing Cassowary (section)

=== 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>