Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Ca­suar­ius ben­netti is found on the is­land of New Guinea. The ma­jor­ity of the pop­u­la­tion re­sides in Papua New Guinea, on the east­ern side of the is­land. These birds are also found on the is­lands of New Britain and Yapen but their pres­ence on these is­lands is likely due to ex­ten­sive trade in cas­sowaries from New Guinea. ("Fam­ily Ca­suari­idae-Dwarf Cas­sowary", 1990; "Cas­sowary", 1985)

• Biogeographic Regions
• australian
  • native

• Other Geographic Terms
• island endemic

Habi­tat

Dwarf cas­sowaries are re­garded as high al­ti­tude birds in re­la­tion to other cas­sowaries. Their habi­tat is steep moun­tain­ous ter­rain up to 3000 m (10000 ft) that is thickly veg­e­tated with sub­trop­i­cal to trop­i­cal forests. ("Cas­sowaries-Ben­nett's cas­sowary", 2003; "Fam­ily Ca­suari­idae-Dwarf Cas­sowary", 1990; "Cas­sowary", 1985)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest
• rainforest

• Range elevation

  3000 (high) m

  9842.52 (high) ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Dwarf cas­sowaries are the small­est of the cas­sowaries (Ca­suari­idae). They stand about 99 to 135 cm (39 to 53 in) tall when mea­sured to the top of the head and weigh around 18 kg (39 lb). Their plumage is black and coarse, while their feath­ers are sim­i­lar to droop­ing bris­tles. Dwarf cas­sowaries have wings that are much re­duced and they are flight­less. The head and neck are lack­ing in feath­ers and are blue and red in color. The top of their head is crowned with a horny “casque,” which is sim­i­lar to a bony hel­met. Dwarf cas­sowaries, un­like their near rel­a­tives, do not have col­ored wat­tles of flesh hang­ing from their necks. Their legs do not have feath­ers and are solid and pow­er­ful. Dwarf cas­sowaries have three toes and the in­ner­most toe has an en­larged claw, which can be up to 10 cm (4 in) in length. Fe­males and males are monomor­phoric, al­though fe­males are larger than males. ("Fam­ily Ca­suari­idae-Dwarf Cas­sowary", 1990; "Cas­sowary", 1985)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• female larger

• Average mass

  18 kg

  39.65 lb

• Range length

  99 to 135 cm

  38.98 to 53.15 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

Lit­tle is known about the mat­ing sys­tem of Ca­suar­ius ben­netti. How­ever, more re­search has been com­pleted on a re­lated species, Ca­suar­ius ca­suar­ius, com­monly known as south­ern cas­sowaries. Fe­male south­ern cas­sowaries will be­come more tol­er­ant of males as the breed­ing sea­son ap­proaches. Even­tu­ally, pairs of male and fe­male cas­sowaries will form. When the fe­male is ready to lay eggs, the pair will find a nest­ing site. The male will dance around the fe­male in cir­cles while his throat trem­bles and swells and he emits a se­ries of low boom­ing calls. Fi­nally, the male will lead the fe­male a short dis­tance from the nest where the fe­male will squat and allow the male to mount her. The eggs will be laid shortly after cop­u­la­tion. In cap­tiv­ity, C. ca­suar­ius has been known to cop­u­late be­tween the lay­ing of each egg. After the eggs have been laid, the fe­male will leave to mate with other males. ("Cas­sowary", 1985; Richard, 1996; "Cas­sowary", 1985)

• Mating System
• polyandrous

In the genus Ca­suar­ius, the breed­ing sea­son be­gins in May or June and lasts until Oc­to­ber or No­vem­ber. Breed­ing is an an­nual oc­cur­rence. Fe­males may mate with more than one male dur­ing a sea­son and must be healthy and well-nour­ished in order to lay mul­ti­ple clutches of eggs. The clutch size of dwarf cas­sowaries is be­tween 4 and 6 eggs. The in­cu­ba­tion pe­riod lasts be­tween 49 and 52 days. Young be­come in­de­pen­dent in 7 to 16 months and sex­u­ally ma­ture at around 4 years old. ("Cas­sowary", 1985; "Wet Trop­ics Man­age­ment Au­thor­ity", 2006)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  In the genus Casuarius females generally breed 1 to 3 times during an annual breeding season.

• Breeding season

  The breeding season for Casuarius begins in May or June and lasts until October or November.

• Range eggs per season

  4 to 6

• Range time to hatching

  49 to 52 days

• Average fledging age

  9 months

• Range time to independence

  7 to 16 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  4 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  4 years

In the genus Ca­suar­ius, mat­ing with males and lay­ing eggs are the only re­spon­si­bil­i­ties of the fe­male birds with re­gard to re­pro­duc­tion. Once the fe­male has laid a clutch of eggs, she will move on to find an­other male with which she can mate. The eggs are in­cu­bated by the male, who is also re­spon­si­ble for rais­ing and de­fend­ing the chicks. The chicks will fol­low their fa­ther but are re­spon­si­ble for feed­ing them­selves. Young fledge after about nine months and are dri­ven out of the home range of their fa­ther. (Rand and Gilliard, 1986; "Com­mu­nity for Coastal and Cas­sowary Con­ser­va­tion", 2006)

• Parental Investment
• precocial
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • protecting
    • male
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • protecting
    • male
• pre-independence
  • protecting
    • male

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Mem­bers of the genus Ca­suar­ius have been known to live up to 40 years in cap­tiv­ity and pos­si­bly to 60 years in the wild, al­though these claims of age in the wild are un­con­firmed. Age can be es­ti­mated using the ap­pear­ance of the casque, the size of the foot­print, and the pres­ence of wrin­kles on the neck. Lifes­pan in dwarf cas­sowaries has not been doc­u­mented. ("Com­mu­nity for Coastal and Cas­sowary Con­ser­va­tion", 2006)

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  26 years

  AnAge

Be­hav­ior

Dwarf cas­sowaries are shy birds that are rarely seen in the wild. They are ac­tive dur­ing the day, spend­ing their time search­ing for food. They are usu­ally found alone or in pairs and oc­ca­sion­ally in small groups. If these birds are cor­nered, they will de­fend them­selves with pow­er­ful kicks. Dwarf cas­sowaries have re­port­edly killed both hu­mans and dogs when they were pro­voked. (Di­a­mond, 1972; "Fam­ily Ca­suari­idae-Dwarf Cas­sowary", 1990; Ramel, 2005; "Cas­sowary", 1985)

• Key Behaviors
• terricolous
• diurnal
• motile
• sedentary
• solitary
• territorial

• Range territory size

  1 to 5 km^2

Home Range

The home range of mem­bers of Ca­suar­ius is roughly 7 square kilo­me­ters and the ter­ri­tory size varies from 1 to 5 square kilo­me­ters. The size and shape of the range change based on the food sup­ply and the oc­cur­rence of the an­nual breed­ing sea­son. Fe­male cas­sowaries tend to have home ranges that over­lap the home ranges of sev­eral males. ("Wet Trop­ics Man­age­ment Au­thor­ity", 2006)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

The call of dwarf cas­sowaries con­sists of low, boom­ing tones that res­onate at a fre­quency near the lower end of human hear­ing. This low-fre­quency com­mu­ni­ca­tion is ideal for soli­tary birds that occur at low den­si­ties in thick forests, as dwarf cas­sowaries do. Lit­tle is known about com­mu­ni­ca­tion when dwarf cas­sowaries meet to mate, al­though vi­sual cues may be in­volved. (Mack and Jones, 2003)

• Communication Channels
• acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Dwarf cas­sowaries feed mainly on fallen fruits or fruits that they pluck from shrubs. Dwarf cas­sowaries also use the crest on their head to sort through leaf lit­ter and re­veal other sources of food, such as fungi, in­sects, plant tis­sue, and small ver­te­brates, in­clud­ing lizards and frogs. ("Cas­sowaries-Ben­nett's cas­sowary", 2003; Gould, 1970; "Fam­ily Ca­suari­idae-Dwarf Cas­sowary", 1990; "Cas­sowary", 1985; "Com­mu­nity for Coastal and Cas­sowary Con­ser­va­tion", 2006)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • frugivore

• Animal Foods
• amphibians
• reptiles
• insects

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• seeds, grains, and nuts
• fruit

• Other Foods
• fungus

Pre­da­tion

Dwarf cas­sowaries have a large claw on their in­ner­most toe and a pow­er­ful kick that they use to de­fend them­selves when pro­voked. Dogs are con­sid­ered preda­tors of Ca­suar­ius species, par­tic­u­larly older birds, hatch­lings, and sub-adults. Feral (in­tro­duced) pigs are also preda­tors of Ca­suar­ius be­cause they eat the eggs of these birds and are po­ten­tial preda­tors of hatch­lings and young birds. Hu­mans oc­ca­sion­ally hunt cas­sowaries for their meat and feath­ers. Dwarf cas­sowaries have no nat­ural preda­tors; dogs, pigs, and hu­mans are not en­demic to New Guinea. ("Fam­ily Ca­suari­idae-Dwarf Cas­sowary", 1990; "Cas­sowary", 1985; "Com­mu­nity for Coastal and Cas­sowary Con­ser­va­tion", 2006)

• Known Predators

  • domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris)
  • feral pigs (Sus scrofa)
  • humans (Homo sapiens)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Mem­bers of the genus Ca­suar­ius are re­spon­si­ble for the dis­tri­b­u­tion of large fruits for about 70 species of trees. The fruits of these trees are too large for many other for­est dwelling fruit eaters to dis­perse. They also play a role in the dis­per­sal of smaller seeds for about 80 plant species. These seeds are often toxic, but can be con­sumed by mem­bers of Ca­suar­ius be­cause of their rapid di­ges­tive sys­tem. Mem­bers of Ca­suar­ius are con­sid­ered key­stone species. ("Com­mu­nity for Coastal and Cas­sowary Con­ser­va­tion", 2006)

• Ecosystem Impact
• disperses seeds
• keystone species

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Dwarf cas­sowaries are kept in cap­tiv­ity as pets and some­times traded lo­cally. Cas­sowaries are some­times hunted by local tribes for their meat and feath­ers. ("Cas­sowary", 1985)

• Positive Impacts
• pet trade
• food

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Dwarf cas­sowaries have been known to at­tack hu­mans when pro­voked. Using their strong legs and sharp claws, sev­eral deaths of hu­mans have been recorded as the re­sult of cas­sowary at­tacks. ("Cas­sowaries-Ben­nett's cas­sowary", 2003; "Cas­sowary", 1985)

• Negative Impacts
• injures humans

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Dwarf cas­sowaries are hunted ex­ten­sively but pop­u­la­tions seem to be sta­ble at this time. Habi­tat de­struc­tion and ex­ces­sive hunt­ing could threaten pop­u­la­tions. ("The IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Species", 2004)

• IUCN Red List

  Near Threatened
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Near Threatened
  More information

• US Migratory Bird Act

  No special status

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Stephanie Jones (au­thor), Kala­ma­zoo Col­lege, Ann Fraser (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), Kala­ma­zoo Col­lege.

Ref­er­ences

2003. Cas­sowaries-Ben­nett's cas­sowary. Pp. "75-81" in M Hutchins, J Jack­son, D Olen­dorf, eds. Grz­imek's An­i­mal Life En­cy­clo­pe­dia, Vol. 8-11, 2nd Edi­tion. Farm­ing­ton Hills: Thom­son Gale.

The British Or­nithol­o­gists' Union. 1985. Cas­sowary. Pp. 82 in B Campell, E Lack, eds. A Dic­tio­nary of Birds, Vol. 1, 1st Edi­tion. Ver­mil­lion, South Dakota: Buteo Books.

Wet Trop­ics Man­age­ment Au­thor­ity. 2006. "Com­mu­nity for Coastal and Cas­sowary Con­ser­va­tion" (On-line). Cas­sowary. Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 14, 2006 at http://​www.​cassowaryconservation.​asn.​au/​noframedocs/​Cassowary.​html.

Mar­shall Edi­tions De­vel­op­ments Lim­ited. 1990. Fam­ily Ca­suari­idae-Dwarf Cas­sowary. Pp. "43-44" in C Per­rins, ed. The Il­lus­trated En­cy­clo­pe­dia of Birds, Vol. 1, 1st Edi­tion. New York: Pren­tice Hall Press.

In­ter­na­tional Union for Con­ser­va­tion of Na­ture and Nat­ural Re­sources. 2004. "The IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Species" (On-line). Ca­suar­ius ben­netti. Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 14, 2006 at http://​www.​iucnredlist.​org/​search/​details.​php/​4010/​summ.

Wet Trop­ics Man­age­ment Au­thor­ity. 2006. "Wet Trop­ics Man­age­ment Au­thor­ity" (On-line). Birds - The Cas­sowary. Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 14, 2006 at http://​www.​wettropics.​gov.​au/​pa/​pa_​casso.​html.

Di­a­mond, J. 1972. Avi­fauna of the East­ern High­lands of New Guinea. Cam­bridge: Nut­tal Or­nitho­log­i­cal Club.

Gould, J. 1970. Birds of New Guinea. Great Britain: Methuen & Co Ltd.

Mack, A., J. Jones. 2003. Low-Fre­quency Vo­cal­iza­tions By Cas­sowaries. The Auk, 120/4: "1062-1068". Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 14, 2006 at http://​www.​bioone.​org/​perlserv/?​request=get-document&​doi=10.​1642%2F0004-8038%282003%29120%5B1062%3ALVBCCS%5D2.​0.​CO%3B2.

Ramel, G. 2005. "Struthion­i­formes" (On-line). Earth­life Web. Ac­cessed No­vem­ber 12, 2006 at http://​www.​earthlife.​net/​birds/​struthioniformes.​html.

Rand, A., E. Gilliard. 1986. Hand­book of New Guinea Birds. Gar­den City: The Nat­ural His­tory Press.

Richard, R. 1996. "Cas­sowary Hus­bandry Work­shop" (On-line). The Sonoma Bird Farm. Ac­cessed No­vem­ber 12, 2006 at http://​www.​cassowary.​com/​workshop.​html.