Airlie Beach: With velociraptor-like legs and striking neon blue necks, southern otters cut a menacing figure in the rainforests of northeastern Australia.
It’s great to see the human-sized birds with their 10-centimeter (four-inch) razor-sharp claws from a distance.
“They’re modern dinosaurs,” said Peter Rowles, president of the Enduring Bird Society.
Strong territory, they fear and scream deeply when threatened.
“When you first see them, it can be scary because they have big eyes and they look at you and they look a little fierce,” Rowles said.
This flying bird is only found in Australia, New Guinea and some Pacific islands.
The Australian government lists it as endangered and estimates that around 4,500 remain in the wild.
They are considered “keystone species”, meaning they play an important role in maintaining biodiversity and dispersing seeds in the rainforest.
If the cashews disappear, the rainforest will suffer.
“We thought if we could save the cages, we could save enough habitat to support more species,” Rowles said.
The team is doing everything they can to save this fearsome bird, which can be up to 1.5 meters (five feet) tall and weigh 75 kilograms (165 pounds).
These include creating signs to encourage drivers to slow down, redesigning roads to protect local habitats and running bird hospitals for injured birds.
The main threats to Kassaria are car accidents, local habitat clearing, dog attacks and climate change.
“The cassowary is not aggressive when properly cared for,” says Rowles.
A young Australian boy died in 1926 after chasing a bird that cut his veins, and in 2019, a Florida man died after attacking his pet.
Over the past 300 years, nearly 100 of Australia’s unique flora and fauna have been wiped out from the earth.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the extinction rate will increase.
“There is too much to do and not enough resources to make a significant impact,” said WWF Australia’s Chief Conservation Officer Darren Grover.
“We see about 2,000 species on the Australian government’s threatened species list, and that list is growing every year,” he said.
According to Grover, the threats are climate change, habitat loss and invasive species.
The Australian government, along with many other species, has a national recovery plan to save the majestic blackbird, which includes working with local and conservation groups.
Much of Consur’s conservation work focuses on protecting keystone species developed by zoologists in the 1960s.
This is the best approach when resources are limited, Grover said, because it provides a flow-on effect to other animals in the habitat.
But this strategy can only go so far, he warned: “We can never do enough to save our wildlife in Australia.”
“The cassowary is a beautiful sight and any time you see it in the wild, it’s amazing,” he said.
“But be careful, because birds are natural, they are big and strong, you have to give them space.”
Australia’s fearsome ‘dinosaur bird’ stares down extinction
