Cassowaries as ornamental birds

Sorry for the late reply.

So, somewhere in the archives you should find 'Acqua eyes'? I'm not sure of the name, but years ago there was a member here who had captive cassowaries.

But I can take a wild swing at this one. In one respect, their care is the same as for, say, an emu: secure fencing, learning the feed requirements of captive ratites, etc. I am Wild Emu Guy, so I know nothing about things like innoculation and licenses. You'll have to research this on line, or hope to find a good avian vet -- good luck with that!
 
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The second aspect is the legendary orneriness of the cassowaries. It annoys me no end that ninnies post on the Net about 'dangerous' emus, how 'an emu attacked me.' Now, ostriches are mean and big; but cassowaries are legendarily aggressive. I was sitting in the garden at dawn, feeding sultanas to emu chicks while their Dad pecked up some wheat. How pleasant! But apparently going into your cassowary enclosure will require riot gear.

Supreme Emu, Lake Muir, Western Australia
 
So: it seems odd; but we rather often discourage folks from buying emus: it's a big big project. It's not cheap. They may live for twenty years or more.

But cassowaries? Times 5 difficulty and expense
 
Yes -- but note the annoyance I expressed above about ninnies posting blah blah blah.

So, okay. Let's treat the subject seriously:

forward articulation: the legs of the ratites articulate forwards -- the opposite of humans. Please take a moment over this. This allows an emu to sorta 'shoot' its leg/central talon straight out from a standing position.

I've seen this up close a bunch of times. Move over, Bruce Lee. The speed of these kicks is so fast that you just see puffs of feathers rising off the victims.

The talon itself: emu talons are -- pardon my wild guess here -- of a substance very like fingernail. But the central emu talon is as big as a spike.

Next, before we go further: 'stepping on the tail.' Emus use in fights a particular tactic: they swipe downwards as they attack from behind -- 'stepping on your tail.' So there are both 'punch straight out' kicks, and 'swipe downward' kicks. It's what the cassowary chick in the clip is doing.

Cassowaries have different talons. I'll let you do some Googling here. But in brief, they have .
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Ah! Here we go!

Here be your eviscerating talon!!
 
Finally, the power of the ratite legs. As I am Wild Emu Guy, I rarely get to handle emus -- they're wild; I can't catch them.

But a couple of times I've had to nurse injured half-grown chicks. The 'drumstick' muscle of the upper leg is astonishingly powerful. It's like spring steel. And a cassowary's legs are substantially larger than an emu's.

Finally, the issue that never gets discussed: why would an emu attack you? I've never been hurt by one of 'my' emus (except Felicity once stepped on me, but that's another story). A Dad protecting his chicks is indeed a scary thing. They will advance on you -- and through binoculars, it's terrifying.

But the point is that emus don't go around attacking people in the wild. If captive, and backed into a corner? Well, that's a different story. My joke about Eric -- the 'original emu' of this project here -- is that I'd rather go three rounds with an hydraulic ice pick than try to stuff Eric into a sack. I've seen him thrash an emu off its feet in a tenth of a second.

Well, then, what about being attacked by a cassowary? I'm glad you asked. As I understand, they'll attack you right off the bat.

So: enormously powerful legs, long evil talon-spike, nasty temper

Does that answer your question?

SE
 
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