Cassowaries live in the rainforests of Queensland. But despite their size, they’re not easy to find.
BySTEVE PORTUGAL
There can be few more imposing sights in nature than an adult cassowary. Standing nearly 2m tall and weighing up to 50kg, it is no mystery why these large, flightless birds, found in north-eastern Australia and Papua New Guinea, have long conjured up comparisons to prehistoric dinosaurs. As a boy, I always dreamed of seeing one in the wild but, growing up in the 1980s, Australia seemed unimaginably exotic and far away.
The opportunity for that childhood dream to become reality landed in February 2023, when I was offered a work trip to Australia. Finally, I had my chance to seek cassowaries in the wild – and I jumped at it.
The magnificent name ‘cassowary’ originates from the Papuan for ‘horned’ (kasu) and ‘head’ (weri), a reference to its casque. The species found in the tropical rainforests of north-eastern Queensland is the southern cassowary. It can also be found in Papua New Guinea, along with its cousin, the northern cassowary and a third species, the dwarf cassowary.
The focus of my quest was the beautiful – and aptly named – Mission Beach. This locality with a spectacular stretch of sand sits on the Cassowary Coast, where it is surrounded by the Wet Tropics forests and looks out eastwards to the Great Barrier Reef. It is the only place in the world where tropical rainforest collides with coral reef, and images of enormous cassowaries foraging on idyllic beaches have become synonymous with the area as a whole.
Due to habitat destruction and urban development, the rainforests at Mission Beach are almost entirely isolated from the wider rainforest habitat. Despite this, the area is home to one of Australia’s largest populations of cassowaries and they have survived on these shores for 60 million years.
So, it was there that I headed, with enthusiasm, to try and connect with these charismatic feathered giants. It would not be easy. I had less than three days, and as if tracking down this elusive bird in such a small amount of time wasn’t challenging enough, I would be covering the entire area on foot.
In addition to their impressive size and weight, cassowaries possess a host of other intriguing features. They belong to a group called the ratites, which includes their close relatives the ostriches, emus and rheas, all of which are eq
