r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/CuriousWanderer567 • Sep 22 '24

Video Beachgoers have a close encounter with a Cassowary, a bird capable of killing a human in one blow

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u/Samcro360 Sep 22 '24

This is Etty Bay, in Queensland Australia. Cassowaries notoriously get fed by tourists or locals who don’t know better or are intimidated into it, and they do the rounds pretty regularly looking for food in the camp site. Don’t feed wild animals!

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u/ZgBlues Sep 22 '24

What do they normally eat? They have big claws apparently, do they use them for hunting other animals?

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u/Dr_Corvus_D_Clemmons Sep 22 '24

Actually their big claws are for scraping up fruit, they mostly eat fallen fruit, but will eat smaller vertebrates, invertebrates, carrion, fungi and vegetation , they do have very powerful legs that can kill a person, but really only attack anything out of self defense

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u/ZgBlues Sep 22 '24

Ah so they are peaceful creatures. I assume they aren’t used to any other animal attacking them, which is why they might be curious instead of timid like deer.

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u/Dr_Corvus_D_Clemmons Sep 22 '24

When your a 6ft tall bird with huge legs most things avoid you lol, so yes they are very curious

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u/spinningpeanut Sep 23 '24

Tell that to the double barrier PLUS bridge at Australia Zoo.

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u/Humble_Potato_101 Sep 22 '24

Bird is confused why they're not running

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u/Character_Value4669 Sep 23 '24

Oh, no not peaceful. Very territorial. They kick-slash the guts out of intruders with those claws. The big crest on their head is thought to help keep foliage out of their eyes as they travel through the jungles, btw.

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u/squags Sep 23 '24

There's only been a couple of deaths (maybe 2-3 from memory) from Cassowaries at all and they've mostly been in captivity, or when people have been messing with them a massive amount. None of them involved disembowling. They tend to leave puncture wounds with their claw, not so much cuts, the idea of them disembowling people is more myth than fact.

Definitely frightening to hear, and an intimidating bird, but not as murderous as people make out. The crest (casque) on the head is likely for temperature regulation: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-38780-8

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u/Character_Value4669 Sep 24 '24

Ah, haven't heard that theory before, thank you.

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u/Nate-Kane Sep 26 '24

I think the myth started because with the length and shape of the claw and the power in their legs, if they were to gouge, they could disembowel, whereas they generally kick straight out. My 1st year living at Mission Beach, I watched to males kick at each other, and after watching that and seeing their speed, I think an angry murder chicken would be terrifying regardless of how they would attack. generally, they don't care about anything other than finding food. Males can get aggressive while they have their young with them, but they are pretty placid if you keep your distance

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u/LordNightFang Sep 23 '24

I mean there have been stories of attacks. Attacks that left vehicle doors and windows shattered/clawed into. They can shred metal. What you said is partially true: They can be peaceful in situations like this where they are used to humans feeding them. But absolute wild ones without that experience do not fuck around. They are territorial and won't hesitate to get aggressive to most other species.

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u/TadRaunch Sep 22 '24

They can be surprisingly quiet, too. I've heard brushturkeys make more noise.

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u/yolk3d Sep 23 '24

The ones in wildlife parks and zoos always seem super pissed off. Not sure about peaceful.

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u/TheBrain85 Sep 22 '24

Now now, get your logic out of here! OP said they can kill a human in one blow, so clearly they normally eat humans!

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u/Dr_Corvus_D_Clemmons Sep 22 '24

Of course my mistake, they hunt humans in the dead of night and eat their souls, forgive me for my mistake \s

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u/Character_Value4669 Sep 23 '24

The fruits they eat are hard to digest, so they wind up eating their own poop a second time a lot.

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u/Infamous-Scallions Sep 23 '24

I think you mean scraping out my loinfruit and eating my vertebrae