My Poo Grows Trees

In Queensland’s rainforests Southern Cassowaries are the only native animal capable of dispersing the seeds of large-fruited plants and trees over long distances, ensuring the continued balance and biodiversity of the rainforest plant community. Without Cassowaries these plants and trees would only occur in concentrated pockets around parent trees or in places where dispersal by gravity can occur, such as gullies or the bottom of slopes.

Conserving Cassowaries has flow-on effects for other threatened rainforest species such as the Musky Rat-kangaroos and Spectacled Fruit Bats, for which the fruit also provides a major food source.

Habitat

Southern Cassowaries live primarily in tropical rainforest, but they also use other types of forest such as eucalypt, mangrove, and tea tree. They are also seen on beaches adjacent to these habitats. Like most animals, Cassowaries need access to fresh clean water for drinking … and bathing! Cassowaries may also venture into suburbs and farmland if they are near their territories or at times of food shortages, such as after cyclones when rainforest trees and fruits have been destroyed by wind and rain.

Each adult Cassowary maintains a home range or territory of about 100Ha. The home ranges of males may overlap with each other’s and with those of females. The loss of Cassowary habitat due to farming and residential development in Northern Queensland is affecting the number of Southern Cassowaries the environment can support. The loss of good quality habitat development (degradation) and purchasing of small parcels of land for homes (fragmentation) is also affecting the Cassowary. Birds living in areas of degraded or fragmented, low-quality habitat need larger home ranges and so the environment cannot support as many birds.

Why Wildlife Corridors are Important

A wildlife corridor is an area of habitat connecting wildlife populations separated by human activities or structures (such as roads, farming, development, or logging).  Due to habitat fragmentation, local populations can become dispersed resulting in reduced genetic diversity and inbreeding that often occurs within isolated populations.

Creating corridors allows for the reconnection of fragmented habitats and facilitates the re-establishment of populations that may have been affected by fragmentation or eliminated due to random events such as fires or cyclones.  Habitat fragmentation due to human development is an ever-increasing threat to biodiversity, and habitat corridors are a possible mitigation. Cassowaries travel across short stretches of open land to feed in rainforest patches, gardens and exotic fruit plantations.

The image above highlights key habitat values including feeding, breeding and resting habitat, water availability and movement corridors. Feeding areas change with fruiting seasons, and traditional food supplies can fail due to events such as cyclones. Cassowary habitat also supports at least 106 plant and 37 animal species identified as threatened under state and federal legislation.

Want to learn more about these incredible birds?

Cassowary Fast Facts

Who am I? The Endangered Southern Cassowary

Current Threats

Indigenous Cultural Significance

Living with Cassowaries

Roles of Zoos and Captive Management

Evolution – Where did I come from?

Biology & Physiology – From top to toe

Cassowary FAQ’s