Fun Dwarf Cassowary Facts For Kids

The dwarf cassowary (Casuarius bennetti) is a species of cassowary found on the island of New Guinea. Dwarf cassowaries are the smallest of the three species associated with Cassowaries.

The three species of the cassowary are - the northern cassowary, the southern cassowary, and the dwarf cassowary. Southern cassowary, also known by the names double-wattled cassowary, Australian cassowary, and the two-wattled cassowary, is the most common species of cassowary found in the world.

The southern cassowary is found in northeast Australia and Indonesia, apart from the usual habitat of all the species of cassowaries are in New Guinea. The northern cassowary lives in northern New Guinea, Yapen, Batanta, and Salawati.

These cassowaries are known as one-wattled cassowaries, single-wattled cassowaries, and golden-necked cassowaries. All of the cassowary species bear a casque (a helmet) on the head.

The dwarf cassowary is known by many names like Mooruk, little cassowary, mountain cassowary, or Bennett's cassowary. The dwarf cassowary was considered Near Threatened a few years back, but their status was changed to of Least Concern in 2015.

Although the population has not grown tremendously yet, less hunting has seen the birds grow more and more in their habitat. If you liked these birds, check out these great green macaw facts and Louisiana waterthrush facts.

Dwarf Cassowary Interesting Facts

What type of animal is a dwarf cassowary?

The dwarf cassowary is a species of cassowary found in  New Guinea, New Britain, and Yapen Island.

What class of animal does a dwarf cassowary belong to?

Dwarf cassowary (Casuarius bennetti) falls under the class of Aves in the Kingdom of Animalia.

How many dwarf cassowaries are there in the world?

The population is not known.

Where does a dwarf cassowary live?

The dwarf cassowary distribution is widespread in New Guinea. The bird is found in the mountainous forests of New Guinea, New Britain, and Yapen Island. The majority of these birds are found on the eastern side of the island, Papua New Guinea.

Southern cassowaries are found in the tropical forests of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, as well as, Aru Islands and northeastern Australia. Their range is much wider than the dwarf cassowary's.

What is a dwarf cassowary's habitat?

The habitat of the dwarf cassowary includes high-altitude regions of around 10826.7 ft (3300 m). Thick vegetation areas are required in subtropical and tropical forests of the mountains.

Who does dwarf cassowary live with?

The dwarf cassowary is known to be a solitary bird. The bird is seen in pairs or solitary and occasionally in small groups.

How long does a dwarf cassowary live?

The dwarf cassowary life span in the wild goes up to 60 years, but the number remains unconfirmed. However, in captivity, the bird is known to live for an age up to 40 years.

How do they reproduce?

As there is not much information on the breeding of the dwarf cassowaries, we will discuss the breeding season of the southern cassowaries.

As the breeding season arrives, the females become more tolerant of the males. When the females become ready to lay eggs, the pair finds a nesting area. The males around the females make low booming calls.

Eggs are laid right after copulation is complete. Females leave the eggs and the nest to mate with other males. The breeding season is usually from May to November.

As the females mate with more than one partner, they need to be healthy to lay multiple clutches of eggs. The incubation period for the eggs is 49-52 days. The young reach sexual maturity at four years, while they become independent after around 10-16 months.

Their average clutch size is around four to six.

What is their conservation status?

The conservation status of the dwarf cassowaries is categorized as of Least Concern by the IUCN Red List. Habitat loss and hunting were the main causes of the cassowary species' Near Threatened status from 2004-2013. But as the population of the birds started getting better and stable, the conservation status for downgraded in 2015.  

Dwarf Cassowary Fun Facts

What do dwarf cassowaries look like?

The dwarf cassowary is the smallest of the cassowaries. The bird has a hard and stiff black plumage and reduced wings. These reduced wings make the bird flightless.

The head and neck are blue and red in color and have no feathers attached. The bird has a horny casque on the top of the head. The casque is similar to a bony helmet that helps them from head trauma and find food and injure their predators.

The other species of cassowaries have colored wattles of flesh hanging from the necks. The dwarf cassowary does not possess those wattles.

The dwarf cassowary has strong and solid legs with no feathers. The large and powerful feet have an enlarged claw in the innermost toe. The dwarf cassowary has a smaller beak than the other species.

Male dwarf cassowary size is much smaller than the female size. Females have a larger casque and a brighter bare skin color.

Southern cassowaries, one of the other species of the cassowaries, are larger in comparison and are one of the largest bird species known to us. Southern cassowaries have bright blue heads, two red wattles, and black feathers.

How cute are they?

These cassowaries are quite beautiful and colorful, albeit dangerous.

How do they communicate?

The dwarf cassowaries communicate with the help of a low-frequency sound, barely audible to humans. As the birds occur at low densities in dense forests, these booming tones help them communicate easily.

How big is a dwarf cassowary?

The length of the dwarf cassowary ranges from 3.25-4.92 ft (99-150 cm).

The height of the bird is 3.28-3.6 ft (100-110 cm).

The dwarf cassowary height is smaller than the other species of cassowaries.

Southern cassowaries are the third tallest living birds in the world. These southern cassowaries are only smaller than the Emu and Ostrich. These cassowaries are 5.8 ft (176.78 cm) tall. The length of these birds has a range of up to 67 in (170.18 cm).

How fast can a dwarf cassowary fly?

All the species of cassowary, namely dwarf cassowary, northern cassowary, and the southern cassowary, are flightless. They are part of the group of ratites.

How much does a dwarf cassowary weigh?

Dwarf cassowary birds have a range of weight from 39-57 lb (17.7-25.8 kg). They are much lighter than the northern cassowary birds and the southern cassowary birds.

Southern cassowaries are known to be the second heaviest bird in the world. Their weight has a range of up to 167 lb (75.75 kg). The female species of these cassowaries are bigger than the male species.

What are the male and female names of the species?

Male and female dwarf cassowaries are not given sex-specific names.

What would you call a baby dwarf cassowary?

A baby dwarf cassowary is called a young or juvenile.

What do they eat?

The dwarf cassowary diet consists of fallen fruits and fruits plucked from shrubs. The bird uses the casque in the head to find their food through the leaf litter. The dwarf cassowary also feeds on a range of food such as fungi, insects, plant tissue, lizards,  frogs, and other small vertebrates.

There are many predators of the dwarf cassowary, like dogs and feral pigs. Dogs feed on adult birds and hatchlings. Feral pigs are known to eat the eggs of the birds along with young birds and hatchlings. Humans are also natural hunters of these birds for their meat and feathers.

Are they dangerous?

The dwarf cassowary can be quite dangerous as the cassowaries are known to have attacked humans quite frequently, and there are also cases of fatalities. In many places, dwarf cassowaries are also kept as pets and traded locally. They are also hunted for their meat and feathers.

Would they make a good pet?

The bird is quite dangerous, and this species is known to attack humans. So keeping the bird as a pet needs a lot of care.

Being careful around the bird is also the most important factor, as the dwarf cassowary is pretty fast and can attack without any provocation. The only thing that helps is that the dwarf cassowary is smaller than the other cassowary bird species.

Did you know...

Cassowaries are large flightless birds. They are part of a group called the ratites that constitutes all flightless birds like Ostrich, Moa, and Emu. Cassowaries have three different species, northern cassowary, southern cassowary, and dwarf cassowary. The dwarf cassowaries are the smallest of the species of cassowaries.

Casuarius bennetti (dwarf cassowary) is a fast runner but cannot fly. Cassowaries are known to run at a speed of 25-30 mph (40-50 kph). They can easily outrun a human when in top gear.

There is not much information on the availability of teeth in cassowaries.

Cassowaries have long, dagger-like nails at the innermost part of their three toes. They can easily kill a human by slashing blows of its feet. The claws are the most dangerous features in these birds. They can also fatally injure a human by headbutting.

Among 221 attacks by cassowaries in Queensland, 150 attacks were on humans. One of these attacks led to the death of a human being. There have been many other cases, too, with the first human death by a cassowary bird reported in 1926.

A permit is required to own a cassowary.

What fruits do cassowaries eat?

The cassowary birds are known to feed on fruits that have fallen to the ground. The birds prefer these fallen fruits too, and it constitutes their main diet. The seeds of these fruits are dispersed all over the rainforests by the cassowaries, and the birds play an important part in keeping the trees in the rainforests alive.

How many types of cassowary are there?

There are three species of cassowaries, all having New Guinea as their common habitat. The three species are - southern cassowary, northern cassowary, and dwarf cassowary.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other birds from our rhinoceros hornbill facts and boreal chickadee fun facts pages.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our Dwarf Cassowary coloring pages.