The double-wattled cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) is a large flightless bird that lives in northeastern Australia and New Guinea. Although it can't fly away from it's predators, it protects itself by slashing out it's long 4 inch long claws. It can run about 30 miles per hour and can jump nearly five feet, making it one of the more dangerous animals in Australia.
It uses it's big feet to chase small birds and mammals through the jungle it lives in.It also eats fruits, insects, fungi, and carrion. While it's claws help it catch prey and give it sure footing as it runs, it's feathers also help it speed through the forest. They are thick and dense, which protects the cassowary from getting stuck by thorns and bramble as well as keep it waterproof. The large knob on it's head, called a casque, helps it as well by allowing it to smash through twigs and branches.
The casque grows as it ages. Young cassowary lack a casque, so they must stay with their mother for protection. Cassowaries lay around 3 to 5 bright green or black eggs in a nest made of mostly leaves. Chicks are brown and stripped, which helps them camouflage in the shady jungle.
The cassowary belongs to the taxonomic order known as Casuariiformes, where the emu and the cassowary are the only members. Taxonomy is the science of how animals are categorized. In order to keep track of all the animals out there, scientist list them in very specific order. It starts off very broad, listing whether its an animal, plant, fungus, or perhaps bacteria. It then starts to get more specific, such as whether the animal has a backbone, if it's a mammal, reptile, or bird. As classification gets more specific it get so specific to it's individual name, which is the long name after it's common name. It's scientific name, or bionomenclature, is always in Latin. This way every scientist in the world will be able to know what animal is being talked about.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Animals, 2006, Per Christiansen
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