Cassowaries (ATOM Study Guide)

The cassowary is found in the forests of Northern Queensland and New Guinea, a bird almost as large as an ostrich, more dramatic than an emu and with a remarkable lifestyle. This documentary focuses on the life of this endangered creature and on the threats to it, both natural and human.

It is thought that there are only 1500 southern cassowaries still in the wild, living in the coastal rainforests of far north Queensland. Cassowaries not only examines the lives of one family of cassowaries but also examines two significant threats. The first is the catastrophic event we call Cyclone Larry – a once in fifty years storm. Most of us only remember it as the cyclone which flattened banana crops and forced the price of that popular fruit up to astronomical levels for one season, However, it also devastated the habitat of the cassowary, stripping the rainforest trees and reducing their food supply significantly.

This emphasised the longer term, chronic threat to their survival – human encroachment on their habitat. The traditional range of the cassowary has been broken up by forest clearance, for housing and resorts on the coast and for banana and sugar cane farms inland. In the past, cassowaries could have moved out of their devastated territories and into untouched areas but now the rainforest in some areas is smaller or fragmented.

With the food supplies in the forest reduced or destroyed by the cyclone, the cassowaries began to roam into the settlements on the coast, like Mission Beach. Some residents were fearful of them, others welcomed them and fed them, like giant pets. Both responses were a problem as the birds, encouraged to visit, became dependant on humans for food and also suffered from traffic accidents and dog attacks.

We see a Queensland Parks and Wildlife team mounting a vigorous rescue and relocation program to get birds at risk back into the deep forest that remains. This is a difficult and dangerous task as the birds are awkward to tranquilise and very dangerous for the wildlife officers and vets to handle. The dedicated team capture the huge birds in a routine that makes professional rugby look easy by comparison. Those that cannot be released immediately, such as orphaned chicks and sick or injured adults are cared for in a rehabilitation unit. We soon realise that although the cassowary is potentially dangerous to humans, being well equipped to defend itself, they have far more to fear from humans than we of them.

These themes are held together by the story of one cassowary family. In unique, first-time footage, we watch the incubation and rearing of the chicks, until they are old enough to fend for themselves. Remarkably, with cassowaries, it is the father who does the raising. In a complete role reversal, the female lays the eggs and then departs, leaving the smaller male to incubate and protect them and then spend a year raising the brood. He guides, protects and teaches them in an environment full of dangers, as the growing chicks play chasey in the paperbark swamps. This raises questions about what 'normal' gender roles might be.