Have you ever seen a Cassowary? It is a very unique bird that stands eye to eye with a grown man and bears a huge bulbous horn/helmet (casque) on its head.
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| Southern Cassowary and blue plum Photo copyright Maria Ngo |
The word ‘cassowary’ name comes from two Papua New Guinean
words meaning horned (Kasu) head (Weri).
They can be found in the dense rainforests of Papua New
Guinea, parts of Indonesia and the north eastern part of Australia. They tend
to be solitary animals and stay in pretty much the same area all year round.
They eat mostly fruit that fall to the ground as well as
other fungi and even snails and small dead mammals. They can eat the poisonous
blue cassowary plum which would be quite deadly to humans. It eats it whole and
then deposits the large seed with its excrement some distance away – it plays a
very important role in the dispersion of the seeds of the blue plum.
The cassowary can be aggressive if threatened in any way.
The breeding season is from June to October. The species is listed as
endangered.
If you want to see a Southern Cassowary up close, you can
visit Cass who lives in the Port Douglas Wildlife Habitat.
When we were in Port Douglas, we bought multi-visit passes
to the centre. We found the tours, feeding sessions as well as educational
talks conducted by knowledgeable and passionate keepers most enjoyable and
informative.
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| Tree kangaroo perched in the branches Photo copyright Maria Ngo |
Another animal that captured my fancy at the Wildlife
Habitat was Lumholtz’s Tree Kangaroo. It is listed as near threatened in
Queensland.
The tree kangaroo is a folivore (i.e. leaf eater) but also
feeds on fruit. They are nocturnal and tend to sleep hunched in tree canopies
in the day time. They have very specially designed fur that point outwards from
the middle of their back which allows water to run off their fur. This is very
useful when you live in the rain forest which gets a lot of rain (!).
They are called tree kangaroos because they actually do climb trees! They can go forwards and reverse down as well. They are also quite capable of jumping from a height. They have been observed to jump down 15 metres.
They tend to be solitary animals and are territorial.
Habitat loss as well as falling prey as road kills are threats to their
survival.
We returned on two separate occasions to view the animals at
different times of the day – this was a bonus as we were able to see the tree
kangaroo when it was wide awake and bounding around and also when it was sleeping.
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| Emu, Tree Kangaroo and Estuarine Crocodile Photo copyright Maria Ngo |
There is a large walk through aviary which houses a variety
of birds that often wander across your path. You can tell that they are very
used to humans visiting them in their home. You can meet many birds, big and
small ones, up close here.
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| More birdsPhoto copyright Maria Ngo |
There are other enclosures for mammals and reptiles. The
space is divided into different themes: woodland, wetlands, rainforest,
savannah and predator plank. You’ve guessed it, it’s Queensland, and the last
is the crocodile enclosure. You can walk above the estuarine crocodiles on a
plank walkway and get a good view of them.
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| Kangaroos and more kangaroos Photo copyright Maria Ngo |
And if kangaroos big and small, actively seeking for food,
or lounging in the shade, posing for a photo, is your marsupial of fascination,
you will be quite the happy camper here.
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| Cheeky and playful birds Photo copyright Maria Ngo |
So if you want to encounter our Australian
icons up close, this is a good place to see them.
References
Lumholtz's
tree-kangaroo. Department of Environment and Science. (https://environment.des.qld.gov.au/wildlife/animals/a-z/lumholtzs-treekangaroo)
Accessed: 20.10.2019.
‘Southern Cassowary’ in Australian
Museum. (https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/animals/birds/southern-cassowary/)
Accessed: 20.10.2019.
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