Helmkasuar

Posted by Harald (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) on 23 September 2008 in Animal & Insect and Portfolio.

The Southern Cassowary, Casuarius casuarius, also known as Double-wattled Cassowary or Two-wattled Cassowary, is a large flightless black bird with hard and stiff plumage, a brown casque, blue face and neck, red nape and two red wattles hanging down its throat. The three-toed feet are thick and powerful, equipped with a lethal dagger-like claw on the inner toe. The plumage is sexually monomorphic, but the female is dominant and larger with a longer casque and brighter-colored bare parts. The immature bird has plain brown plumage.

It is the largest member of the Cassowary family and is the second heaviest bird on earth, at a maximum size estimated at 85 kg (187 lb) and 190 cm (74 in). Normally this species ranges from 127 to 170 cm (50-67 in), with females averaging 58 kg (128 lb) and males averaging 33 kg (73 lb).[2] The Southern Cassowary is distributed in tropical rainforests of Aru and Seram Islands of Indonesia, New Guinea and northeastern Australia. It is technicially the largest Asian bird (since the extinction of the Arabian Ostrich) and the largest Australian bird (though the Emu may be slightly taller). It forages on the forest floor for fallen fruit.
(source Wikipedia)

vfxy Photoblogs | Cool Photoblogs | Listed on Photoblogs.org