The worlds most dangerous bird
November 18, 2024 10:01 AM Subscribe
Some fantastic and eminently quotable quotes from this ABC piece - Australia's Cassowaries EXPOSED: The Truth Behind the World's Most Dangerous Bird - Dr Ann Jones. A quick sample - "Just give it your sandwich", "That white bread'll probably make him constipated; just sayin'", "I mean you no harm", "Look at those wattles, they're like testicles..."
From Wikipedia Cassowaries (Indonesian: kasuari, Biak: man suar 'bird strong',Tok Pisin: muruk, Papuan: kasu weri 'horned head') are flightless birds of the genus Casuarius in the order Casuariiformes. They are classified as ratites: flightless birds without a keel on their sternum bones. Cassowaries are native to the tropical forests of New Guinea (Western New Guinea and Papua New Guinea), The Moluccas (Seram and Aru Islands), and northeastern Australia.
It is regarded as the worlds most dangerous bird.
In spite of the danger, as per Dr Jones comment, they play a very important role in seed dispersal in the environment... "Cassowaries feed on the fruit of several hundred rainforest species and usually pass viable seeds in large, dense 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%)"
From Wikipedia Cassowaries (Indonesian: kasuari, Biak: man suar 'bird strong',Tok Pisin: muruk, Papuan: kasu weri 'horned head') are flightless birds of the genus Casuarius in the order Casuariiformes. They are classified as ratites: flightless birds without a keel on their sternum bones. Cassowaries are native to the tropical forests of New Guinea (Western New Guinea and Papua New Guinea), The Moluccas (Seram and Aru Islands), and northeastern Australia.
It is regarded as the worlds most dangerous bird.
In spite of the danger, as per Dr Jones comment, they play a very important role in seed dispersal in the environment... "Cassowaries feed on the fruit of several hundred rainforest species and usually pass viable seeds in large, dense 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%)"
Some birds have been known to kill humans, Cassowaries, Ostriches...and one rooster.
WTF, tell me about this rooster!
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 10:38 AM on November 18 [3 favorites]
WTF, tell me about this rooster!
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 10:38 AM on November 18 [3 favorites]
Reasonably Everything Happens
eponysterical
posted by chavenet at 10:44 AM on November 18 [1 favorite]
eponysterical
posted by chavenet at 10:44 AM on November 18 [1 favorite]
Imagine them pulling a chariot!!! Lethal!
posted by kensington314 at 10:59 AM on November 18 [4 favorites]
posted by kensington314 at 10:59 AM on November 18 [4 favorites]
WTF, tell me about this rooster!
From PubMed: Fatal rooster attack.
posted by RichardP at 11:16 AM on November 18 [1 favorite]
From PubMed: Fatal rooster attack.
posted by RichardP at 11:16 AM on November 18 [1 favorite]
A cassowary is basically a modern day velociraptor, with the armament to match. I was watching a video on Tumblr posts, and one that came up was "what omens would a haruspex get from a cassowary?" The consensus was the omen of a cassowary was "death by cassowary", with one wag noting that it would be the cassowary examining the priest's entrails, not vice versa.
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:58 AM on November 18 [6 favorites]
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:58 AM on November 18 [6 favorites]
I once came around a corner of a building one morning to discover a male turkey in competition with his reflection in a window. He was in full display and his dander was up. I was able to slowly back away from the 50lb (?) bird, and we went peaceably in our separate ways, but it was an alarming experience. The idea of meeting a bird 2-3 times larger by surprise is not an attractive thought.
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:10 PM on November 18 [3 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:10 PM on November 18 [3 favorites]
If you look up the stats, ostriches are far more dangerous to humans than cassowaries.
posted by kickingtheground at 10:08 PM on November 18
posted by kickingtheground at 10:08 PM on November 18
If you look up the stats, ostriches are far more dangerous to humans than cassowaries.
The most dangerous animal to humans on the entire planet is the domesticated dog, and it's not even close.
(Which is to say, there are several different meanings of "dangerous" potentially in play here, and statistics capture some but not all of those.)
posted by adrienneleigh at 11:03 PM on November 18 [2 favorites]
The most dangerous animal to humans on the entire planet is the domesticated dog, and it's not even close.
(Which is to say, there are several different meanings of "dangerous" potentially in play here, and statistics capture some but not all of those.)
posted by adrienneleigh at 11:03 PM on November 18 [2 favorites]
But the bar room debate "would you rather fight one cassowary sized dog or one hunded dog sized cassowaries" seems to have a clear answer.
posted by pwnguin at 12:57 AM on November 19 [1 favorite]
posted by pwnguin at 12:57 AM on November 19 [1 favorite]
...and one rooster.
"Certain motherfuckers think they can fuck with my shit, but you can't kill the Rooster. You might fuck him up sometimes, but, bitch, nobody kills the motherfucking Rooster. You know what I'm saying?"
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:49 AM on November 19 [1 favorite]
"Certain motherfuckers think they can fuck with my shit, but you can't kill the Rooster. You might fuck him up sometimes, but, bitch, nobody kills the motherfucking Rooster. You know what I'm saying?"
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:49 AM on November 19 [1 favorite]
The most dangerous animal to humans on the entire planet is the domesticated dog, and it's not even close.
OK, but the most lethal animal to humans in the world is the mosquito, which harbors deadly microbes. Second is other humans.
posted by waving at 6:57 AM on November 19
OK, but the most lethal animal to humans in the world is the mosquito, which harbors deadly microbes. Second is other humans.
posted by waving at 6:57 AM on November 19
A 12cm talon? There are words for something like that and they all include "horror".
posted by tommasz at 8:46 AM on November 19
posted by tommasz at 8:46 AM on November 19
Years ago I attended the wedding of some friends at the Los Angeles Zoo after hours (yeah, you can do that!). I was walking the path to the venue with my husband when I felt eyes on me, an furious virulently anti-mammal laser of pure hate. I swung around and there was the Cassowary just staring murder at me, maybe two yards away. It was behind a wire fence but I've never been so intimidated by a zoo animal. I was looking over my shoulder all night
posted by biddeford at 2:28 PM on November 19 [1 favorite]
posted by biddeford at 2:28 PM on November 19 [1 favorite]
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posted by lalochezia at 10:08 AM on November 18 [19 favorites]