dangerous bird on the planet.

The Southern Cassowary may not be as much of a household name as its cousins the Ostritch and the Emu, but it is classified as "only" the third largest bird on the planet and is endangered.

I'd never heard of it.

Many female birds do not share the same brightly colored plumage as the male of the species. The female Cassowary, on the other hand, does and is stronger and bigger than the male. During the mating ceremony it is the male who takes the passive role and the female can take up to three different mates contiguously. The final partner she attracts will be the one to rear the young. That's correct, after a month or so of courtship the female lays the clutch of eggs and removes herself from the scene. The hapless male is left to incubate the eggs and look after the young. He may never be able to request a DNA paternity test but nevertheless it is unlikely that all of the brood will be his.

Not only this, during the fifty days and nights it takes to incubate the eggs the male will most often lose up to about a third of his body weight as he cannot wander far to forage for food. They are, however, omnivorous although their preferred food is fruit. They will eat small vertebrates and invertebrates. When surprised this inhibited and diffident bird will choose to run - and boy can they run. They can run at speeds up to fifty kilometers and hour through dense rainforest. However, when they are cornered they can maim or kill people and have (rarely) done so. The Guinness World Record Book puts them at the top of the list of birds dangerous to man.

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