The Cassowary

The Cassowary is a flightless bird that has been around for 100 million years. Encounters with them makes it obvious their dinosaur heritage.

They lived in the land of Gondwanaland. Voted the 'most dangerous bird on the planet' by the Guinness Book of World Records, is the largest land creature found on the Australian Continent and in Papua New Guinea; it is also the third-largest bird in the world, the first two being the Ostrich and the Emu. Since it is an inhabitant of Rain Forests and Rain Forests are rapidly shrinking, the Cassowary is high on the Endangered Species list. Their average height is between 5 to 6 feet and they weigh around 150 pounds. They become sexually mature around 4 years and live to about 60. They can run as fast as 30 miles as hour and jump as high as 5 feet.

The female is the player. After mating she lays a clutch of 3 to 8 greenish-blue eggs. The male bird is the one who builds the nest, incubates the eggs for about 50 days and then rears the chicks for a year.