Southern cassowary: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the southern cassowary lives – recorded in 3 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Casuarius casuarius
Group	Ostriches, emus, kiwis & rheas
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	3 countries
Continents	Asia, Oceania
Diet (main food)	Reptilia, fruit, snail, mammal, mushroom
Class	Bird
Order	Casuariiformes
Family	Casuariidae

Where does the southern cassowary live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the southern cassowary in 3 countries and territories across Asia and Oceania. Wikidata gives its range as: Africa, Seram, Indonesia, Papua, Papua New Guinea. In Indonesia, Papua New Guinea it is listed as introduced (GRIIS checklists via GBIF).

Australia
Papua New Guinea (introduced)
Indonesia (introduced)

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

What does a southern cassowary eat?

Wikidata lists the main food source of the southern cassowary as: Reptilia, fruit, snail, mammal, mushroom.

Is the southern cassowary endangered?

The southern cassowary’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the southern cassowary?

The southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) is a bird in the order Casuariiformes and the family Casuariidae, genus Casuarius. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the southern cassowary

The southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius), also known as double-wattled cassowary, Australian cassowary, or two-wattled cassowary, is a large, flightless, mostly black bird, found in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and northeastern Australia. It is one of the three living species of cassowary, alongside the dwarf cassowary and the northern cassowary. It is a ratite and therefore related to the emu, ostrich, rhea and kiwi. Southern cassowaries are among the largest birds in the world, only weighing less than ostriches.

The Australian population is listed as Endangered under federal and Queensland state legislation.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Southern cassowary (revision 1381171968), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q375790 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).