The cassowary has caught people's imagination since the Dreamtimes. Its formidable size and shape, its elusive crepuscular behaviour, the ferocious might of its beak and claws, its frenzied glare when frightened, its long drooping red wattles and amber eyes have gained this rare rainforest fowl, a rap for being the most dangerous bird species in the world. But is the mystery true, or is it just another scary story in the social media?
To read the truth about the cassowary you can check the article "Amid efforts to save Australia's cassowaries, their numbers remain unknown", written by Cooper Williams for Mongabay. This text is recommended for B2 students, who can pick up expressions like: a cassowary, elusive, to shrink, to breed, striking, jet black, plumage, drooping, wattles, razor-sharp, a claw, to track, rugged [terrain], a scat, to roam, to rear, to range, a gully, to clear [the rainforest], the turning point, logging, [community] advocacy, reforestation, a [logging] track, ongoing [recovery], to breed, to lay [a clutch of 3- 5 eggs], to rebound, [to raise] a chick, a flightless [bird], a helping hand, to revegetate, a [road] strike, to limp [back into the forest], to strip [trees of fruit], unheard of, to hint [at a cautious return of the cassowary], wattled, mounting [pressures].
If you want to learn about the ancient connection between the Aboriginal groups in Far North Queensland (Australia) and the cassowary or "gunduy" in Djiru language, you can try the link The Indigenous Cultural Significance of the Southern Cassowary, published by the not-for-profit organisation Rainforest Rescue, where B2 students will find interesting expressions like: a settler, late [father], [to send] shivers [through my body], overwhelming, gunduy, the bush, a totem, a tray, a pot, to plant-out, a revegetation site ,the cassowary foot (jina-gundulu), the fire-wheel (oak), the flame-tree, a Girramay [dancer], the scrub, [elders and] kin, to pass down [knowledge], a feast, the [thickets] tangled [rainforest], a flightless [bird], to roam, frugivores, a wattle, a casque, droppings, ongoing [continuation], rainforest clearing, loss of habitat, [vehicle] strikes, pest [animals], revegetation, [cultural] tapestry.
Numerous local conservation groups work in Daintree, Mission Beach and other areas in Far North Queensland, to study the cassowary and preserve their rainforest habitats, like Kuranda Conservation, Terrain NMR, Mission Beach Cassowaries Inc, the Gondwana Rainforest Trust, the Community for Coastal & Cassowary Conservation or the Girringun Aboriginal Corporation (GAP). Also, government agencies run programmes and maintain websites to raise awareness and protect this endangered species, for example, the Wet Tropics Management Authority: Southern Cassowary, or the Queensland Government with Southern Cassowary and Be Cass-o-wary safety tips, where advice is given in the unlikely case humans bump into a free cassowary in the wild. As for captive breeding plans for the cassowaries, you can take a look at the project Species Survival Plan (SSP) in San Diego Zoo: the Cassowary.
Below, you can watch a short video, Cassowary Corridors (1':30"), by the Queensland Trust for Nature at Mission Beach, where some locals explain conservation efforts to restore fragmented habitats for the cassowary, and where you can actually watch some specimens of these birds roaming in the bush. A much longer documentary can be found at Cassowary: The Most Dangerous Bird Alive (49':53"), by Space and Science channel. Finally, you can also watch a cute video for kids, Keeping Cassowaries connected (11':24") by Terrain NMR and follow Peanut, a young cassowary, on the day his father leaves him alone for the first time. These videos are recommended for B2+ or C1 students.