Southern cassowary
Amazing fact
Southern cassowary chicks have tan feathers with dark brown stripes.
Smithsonian National Zoo
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An illustration based on the real animal.
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Southern cassowary chicks have tan feathers with dark brown stripes.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Southern cassowary
- Scientific name
- Casuarius casuarius
- Japanese name
- ヒクイドリ
- Group
- Birds
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Casuariiformes
- Family
- Casuariidae
- Genus
- Casuarius
It is a flightless bird of the tropical rainforests of Australia and New Guinea, and it usually lives alone.
The helmet-like casque on top of its head is hollow, and scientists think it helps let heat escape from its body.
It mostly eats fruit and spreads the seeds in its droppings, so it plays an important part in its forest home.
How the Southern cassowary lives
It is active during the day, walking slowly in search of food. It finds and eats fruit that has fallen to the ground. The male builds a nest of grasses and sticks on the forest floor. The male incubates the eggs and raises the chicks.
San Diego ZooUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity WebSmithsonian National ZooBasic data
- Size
- Height: 170 cm
- Weight
- females up to 80 kg, males about 55 kg
- Lifespan
- 18–20 years in the wild
- Diet
- Fruit and sometimes small animals
- Range
- New Guinea and northern Queensland, Australia
Where the Southern cassowary has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ヒクイドリ
- 简体中文
- 南方鹤鸵
- 繁體中文
- 南方鶴鴕
- 한국어
- 큰화식조
- Español
- Casuario común
- Français
- Casoar à casque
- Deutsch
- Helmkasuar
- Português (Brasil)
- Casuar-de-capacete
- Italiano
- Casuario australiano
- العربية
- شبنم جنوبي
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Kasuari gelambir-ganda
- Tiếng Việt
- Đà điểu đầu mào phương nam
- Русский
- Шлемоносный казуар
- Türkçe
- Çift Sakallı Kajuari
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- Smithsonian National Zoo — Southern cassowaryChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Casuarius casuariusChecked: 2026-11-03
- San Diego Zoo — Southern CassowaryChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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