Kevin+the+Cassowary



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Full name: Kevin Albert Smith Gender: Female (It is very common for females to have male names.) Age: 22 Offspring: I have 12 children altogether. However, 4 of them were taken away and 3 have been killed by humans. Relationship status: Married Population status: 1300-1500 of Cassowaries are alive. This number is declining fast. Habitat: Northern Australia. I do, however, have cousins who live over in Papua New Guinea, but all of my species (the Southern Cassowaries) live in Notheren Australia. Description: I am about 1.5 meters tall, which is the average height for my breed of Cassowaries.

Favorite things! Favorite food: The 'Cassowary Plum.' A large, smooth blue fruit, it is the sweetest thing I have ever eaten. The best part is, it's toxic too every other animal in the rainforest, so there is never a shortage of them! Favorite pastime: Looking for food! I meet heaps of other animals and I get to eat little treats whenever I want!

Threats to us

We have many threats. Habitat clearance, dogs, cars, hunting and mother nature herself. Habitat clearance is a big killer of us. As we each have our own set territory, if you lose yours, it is very hard to find another one that isn't occupied by a pair. Usually cassowaries with no home end up dying from stress, fear or starvation. Dogs are probably the biggest threats (apart from cars) to us. I don't really understand them. I have only ever seen one, but my husband got rid of it before it hurt anyone. All I know is that if they come, it means a fight. The biggest killer of Cassowaries is cars. I have only seen one cassowary killed by a car, but it was enough to never want me to go onto the big black thing in the middle of my territory. The cassowaries name was Bernie. He was my son and was Only two years old. He was heading off too find a home, and I was with him to show him the borders of surrounding territories. We had been walking for a while when we came across a big, black, hard lump of stuff with white lines on the middle. I didn't want to go on it, as it didn't look safe. But Bernie laughed off my fears and ran onto the black stuff. Suddenly there was a loud BEEP and a giant blue thing came around speeding down the black stuff and smashed into Bernie, sending him flying. When I ran onto the black stuff to see if he was alright, he was dead. Humans, again, are one of our threats. They hunt us for our horns and feathers. I don't see why they kill us- we haven't done anything to them. Mother Nature is a threat to us. She recently sent a huge windstorm to my brothers and sisters on the coast. They all lost their homes and their food. They strayed into town and were attacked by dogs and humans. Now they are safer, with people preparing food baskets for them, and making sure they don't go into town.

How we could be saved

There aren't many ways we can be saved. I'm not giving up hope, but a large majority of humans don't care about us- most don't even know what a Cassowary is, let alone their toll on us. But simple things,such as driving a slower when near a Cassowary hot spot, or putting your dog in a secure back-yard, will help us thrive. Another thing essential to our survival is breeding programs. Right now, only about 40 Cassowaries are in captivity- which isn't many at all. But the thing that is most important in our long term survival is awareness. As I said earlier, not many people know what a Cassowary is- but if we want to survive, people need to know and be aware of what's happening. I'm not saying this out of selfishness. Cassowaries are a very important part of rain forests- we spread seeds from trees that no other animals can. If we didn't do this, then the seeds would lie at the base of trees or roll down hills, which would HUGELY affect the structure of a rainforest. An uncountable number or animals are relying on us to survive.

Major efforts to save us There has been a large number of people helping Cassowaries. But since cyclone Yasi, the number of people helping Cassowaries and the general awareness of Cassowaries doubled. Bob Irwin is a huge part in Cassowary conservation. Click on the links below to find out more!!!

SAVE THE CASSOWARY Rainforest Rescue- with a great video

Photos!

This is me as a baby-all Cassowary babies have stripy feathers.

This is a photo of some of my eggs from a couple of years ago.

This is me

Here are two of my darling babies- Silvia and Simon.

This is where me and my cousins are found in the world.

This is a Cassowary claw!

Resources used:

Pictures: http://images.travelpod.com/users/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008.1207114560.cassowary-claw.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cassowary_Range.png http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/PhotoGallery/Birds/photos/fpo1763-23.jpg http://www.neseabirds.com/Australia/art/QLcassowarynest.jpg http://images.theage.com.au/2010/06/23/1632224/Cassowary-420x0.jpg http://australianmuseum.net.au/Uploads/Images/12333/cassowary_%20Chaffer_big.jpg http://en.academic.ru/pictures/enwiki/67/Casuariuas_casuarius_Distribution_map.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4047/4673730691_76789a9757

Websites http://www.wettropics.gov.au/pa/pa_casso.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassowary