Cassowary at Coquette Point, Queensland, 2025🦤

Photo: Chris Olszewski · CC BY-SA 4.0

SpeciesCasuariiformesCasuariidae
Birds

🦤Southern cassowary

Casuarius casuarius (Linnaeus, 1758)

The southern cassowary, also known as double-wattled cassowary, Australian cassowary, or two-wattled cassowary, is a large, flightless, mostly black bird, found in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and northeastern Australia. It is one of the three living species of cassowary, alongside the dwarf cassowary and the northern cassowary. It is a ratite and therefore related to the emu, ostrich, rhea and kiwi. Southern cassowaries are among the largest birds in the world, only weighing less than ostriches.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
6
Photos
6
Measurements
10
vs you
≈ half your weight
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2018.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
44 kg
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
30 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Southern cassowary

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
44 kg
AVONET
Other figures ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 44 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: questionable
Tail length
0.4 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Wing length
0.3 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Beak length
0.1 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Tarsus length
0.29 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
30 years
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: questionable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Trophic level
Herbivore
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Habitat
Forest
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Lifestyle
Terrestrial
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
44 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Southern cassowary yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classAves
  4. ›orderCasuariiformes
  5. ›familyCasuariidae
  6. ›genusCasuarius
  7. ›speciesCasuarius casuarius
Full lineage
  1. classBirds · Aves
  2. orderCasuariiformes
  3. familyCasuariidae
  4. genusCasuarius
All 13 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. classBirds · Aves
  10. superorderPalaeognathae
  11. orderCasuariiformes
  12. familyCasuariidae
  13. genusCasuarius
More

More about the Southern cassowary

Closest relative on this site
🐦 Emu — last shared an ancestor ≈ 21 million years ago.
In other languages
Casuari (ca), kasuár přílbový (cs), Hjelmkasuar (da), Helmkasuar (de), Casuarius casuarius (es), kypäräkasuaari (fi) … and 25 more languages

Animals caught on camera

Real footage of the animals on this site — hunting, fighting, and getting on with it.

See all 6 videos →
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