– We welcome another baby – a lovely, fluffy cassowary, a great breeding success – informed the Warsaw Zoo. Young cassowaries, apart from the Warsaw Zoo, have hatched this year in only two of the 54 European zoos where this species is kept.
In zoos, very few cassowary pairs breed, so the birth of young is always a big event.
“The key issue is the experience of the keepers, patience and conscientious cooperation with the species coordinator. We succeeded! Thanks to the enormous work of the employees of the Warsaw Zoo, we can now enjoy the birth of another representative of this endemic and endangered species,” the zoo explained.
The cassowary is an aggressive flightless bird.
The cassowary is a large bird, sometimes reaching almost two meters in height, considered one of the closest descendants of dinosaurs. The male takes care of the chick, which incubates the eggs for about 50 days. During this time, the female is separated from the male and the chick, because she may pose a threat to them.
Cassowaries are excellent swimmers and have excellent hearing. They have a distinctive helmet on their heads, which, despite various scientific theories, still remains a mystery.
The cassowary is a loner and one of the most dangerous and aggressive flightless birds.
We hear it more often than we see it.
Due to its high shyness, the bird's voice is more often heard in the wild than seen. Cassowary territories are located near water bodies. These birds exhibit many surprising features: they are excellent swimmers, have excellent hearing, and in dangerous situations can jump to a height of 1.5 meters.
The native people of New Guinea catch young cassowaries and raise them for their meat, which they consider a delicacy. Their bones are used to make daggers and arrowheads. Cassowaries kept in cages are very dangerous to humans.
“The baby was about 175 centimeters at birth and weighed 49 kilograms”Warsaw Zoo
Main image source: Ewa Jakowlew, Warsaw Zoo