Beautiful one day. Gone the next. Will nature lovers stand by and watch a national icon on its final descent? We're about to find out.

Without a second to lose, excited tourists press their camera lenses up against the bus window to get that allusive shot. If it's what they're hoping for, this could be their closest, most exciting encounter yet.

It's much bigger than they expect - a great hairy-looking creature nearly two metres tall, helmeted, with blue and red 'war paint' splashed across its long neck. At the end of its short stout legs are massive claws, sharp enough to disembowel the largest of predators.

But as road kill, the cassowary's marvellous adaptations are of little use.

Nearly ten years ago, just fifty-four of these large, flightless birds were recorded for the whole of the Daintree region. Just like the great Moas of New Zealand, they could soon disappear forever.

Their dangerously low numbers are already sending hundreds of dependent rainforest species into decline.

According to Kelvin Davies, Executive Officer of Rainforest Rescue, the critical habitat of the Cassowary is being developed for housing at a disturbing rate.

"Its hard to imagine areas of tropical rainforest extending up the coast from the Daintree River to Cape Tribulation is now freehold land," said Kelvin.

" These privately-owned blocks are of immense conservation value. The laws and regulations that exist are inadequate to prevent people that buy them from clearing and developing the blocks for housing."

"Developers began subdividing the lowland rainforest in the 1980s, after the land was rezoned by Council."

With the road to Cape Tribulation now bituminised, settlement of the privately owned allotments within the Daintree is escalating. Twenty allotments were developed for rural residential housing last year.

Roads slice through the home ranges of the cassowaries and with large areas of habitat continuing to be cleared for settlement or lost to weeds, the handful of surviving birds are forced to dodge cars, dogs and aggressive feral pigs to access a dwindling food supply.

"Weed invasion is a real worry," says biologist Tim Low, author of Feral Future and The New Nature.

"Pond apple - one of Australia's 20 worst weeds - are sprouting behind the beach, where exotic coconuts are also invading," he said.

"Cultivated plants escaping from gardens into coastal forests is a nightmare prospect, especially when some landholders are growing weird tropical fruits, rare palms and unusual permaculture plants."

"The result is a very wide variety of potential weeds that we don't know much about."

Mr Low predicts a continued trend of piecemeal destruction and weed invasion if areas are not purchased and set aside for conservation.

Weeds pose a serious threat to the Daintree rainforest which, until recently, has survived as an unbroken stream of evolution since the appearance of the world's first flowering plants.

"These forests are home to thirteen of the nineteen primitive plant families," says Dr Julia Playford, Director of the Conservation Sciences Unit with the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency.

"Ten of these are found on private land between the Daintree River and Cape Tribulation."

Given her special interest in plant evolution and genetics, Dr Playford's concern for the future of the privately owned forest comes as no surprise.

Over 100 rare and threatened plant species are found in the area. Forty-three occur on freehold land in the Cooper Creek area alone and 12 have not been found in any National Park areas.

The Cow Bay, Bailey's Creek, Coppers Creek area is a significant tract of Cassowary habitat. It is also vital habitat for the primitive Musky Rat-kangaroo, the rare Bennett's Tree Kangaroo, endangered Spotted-tailed Quoll, and a myriad of smaller creatures little known to science.

"Look out at night for all the gigantic white-tailed rats," says Tim Low, whose love of native species is only equaled by his passion to put a stop to invasive weeds.

"Also look for fig parrots and bumpy satinash which produces big white and golden flowers right down the trunk to ground level, providing nectar for pygmy possums at night."

For tourists, the Daintree is the only place in Australia that serves up World Heritage rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef together. Some call it the heart and soul of the Wet Tropics.

Whether bush walking or wildlife spotting, its rich, tropical rainforests give nature lovers from all walks of life a taste of 'ecology in action'.

But according to scientists, it won't take much to unravel the intricate web of the Daintree rainforest ecosystem.

The loss of even one species to extinction could have a devastating result.

"Without cassowaries, over 100 native rainforest plants are not able to regenerate," said Dr Playford.

"They are the only bird in the region capable of swallowing the large fruits whole."

Eager to act before it is too late, Rainforest Rescue is raising funds to buy back the privately owned blocks of rainforest.

With this support, the Daintree Rainforest Foundation has already purchased four properties in the past two years. Protected forever, and soon to be declared a Nature Refuge. The rescued areas are now being managed for their conservation values and will, with the purchase of just two more properties form a corridor for Cassowaries in the area.

Rainforest Rescue is a national, not for profit organisation committed to saving our rainforests for current and future generations. To make a donation to the Daintree Buy Back and Protect Forever Campaign, write to Rainforest Rescue, PO Box 1511 Toowong Queensland, 4066, email info@rainforestrescue.org.au or visit www.rainforestrescue.org.au

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.