The cassowary (Casuarius spp.) Is a bird of the ratite group of large birds, native to northeastern Australia, New Guinea and surrounding islands.
The three species of cassowary Casuariidae belong to the family and are with the ostrich and Emu, the largest birds in existence today. The preferred habitat of the cassowary are areas of rainforest, where there is a large number of trees available to produce the fruits that they feed. In this environment the cassowary plays an important ecological role in dispersing seeds of trees. The cassowary is an important figure in the mythology of the native populations of Oceania and generally represents a mother figure.
The plumage of the cassowary is abundant and greyish in color, with colored feathers at the base of the neck. These birds have a red crest on top of the head, which grows slowly during the first year of the animal and with unknown function. The group has no significant sexual dimorphism, with females only slightly larger and more colorful. A distinctive feature is the presence of a claw-shaped dagger finger in this procedure. As in other strutioniformes, cassowaries have stunted wings and three toes on each foot.
The cassowary is a bird agile, which can run about 50 mph and jump 1.5 m without any balance. Animals are usually shy and quiet but they may be extremely aggressive and dangerous for humans to protect the nest or their young.
During breeding males claim a territory and try to attract a female, it remains only to lay between 3-5 eggs. After laying the female leaves the nest and may breed in another country. The males alone take care of nests and offspring during the next nine months. Juveniles are brownish in color and just make a typical adult plumage at about three years.
The cassowary is a bird important to humans for hundreds of years as a source of protein through meat and eggs. Some tribes in New Guinea have a habit of robbing the nests and rear their young to adulthood, when sold or killed for local consumption, however the cassowary has never been completely tamed. The colorful feathers are also a source of interest and the reason in the past the European settlers hunted the animal thoroughly. Currently, three species of cassowary are threatened by habitat destruction and are protected by law. It is a bird more dangerous to humans because their kick can equate the same force of a small knife, and may even sever a limb.
Various species of cassowary are abundant in the fossil record of the Plio-Pleistocene Australia and is thought to have evolved from emus somewhere in the Miocene.
The three species of cassowary Casuariidae belong to the family and are with the ostrich and Emu, the largest birds in existence today. The preferred habitat of the cassowary are areas of rainforest, where there is a large number of trees available to produce the fruits that they feed. In this environment the cassowary plays an important ecological role in dispersing seeds of trees. The cassowary is an important figure in the mythology of the native populations of Oceania and generally represents a mother figure.
The plumage of the cassowary is abundant and greyish in color, with colored feathers at the base of the neck. These birds have a red crest on top of the head, which grows slowly during the first year of the animal and with unknown function. The group has no significant sexual dimorphism, with females only slightly larger and more colorful. A distinctive feature is the presence of a claw-shaped dagger finger in this procedure. As in other strutioniformes, cassowaries have stunted wings and three toes on each foot.
The cassowary is a bird agile, which can run about 50 mph and jump 1.5 m without any balance. Animals are usually shy and quiet but they may be extremely aggressive and dangerous for humans to protect the nest or their young.
During breeding males claim a territory and try to attract a female, it remains only to lay between 3-5 eggs. After laying the female leaves the nest and may breed in another country. The males alone take care of nests and offspring during the next nine months. Juveniles are brownish in color and just make a typical adult plumage at about three years.
The cassowary is a bird important to humans for hundreds of years as a source of protein through meat and eggs. Some tribes in New Guinea have a habit of robbing the nests and rear their young to adulthood, when sold or killed for local consumption, however the cassowary has never been completely tamed. The colorful feathers are also a source of interest and the reason in the past the European settlers hunted the animal thoroughly. Currently, three species of cassowary are threatened by habitat destruction and are protected by law. It is a bird more dangerous to humans because their kick can equate the same force of a small knife, and may even sever a limb.
Various species of cassowary are abundant in the fossil record of the Plio-Pleistocene Australia and is thought to have evolved from emus somewhere in the Miocene.
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