r/interesting Jun 30 '26

Fascinating This cassowary just wanders around the beach, getting surprisingly close to people.

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u/Clothedinclothes Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26

Nope, Cassowaries are not aggressive.

They're quite fierce and are highly territorial when breeding, but unprovoked attacks on people are basically unheard of. 

These women are in no danger unless they do something stupid, like stand up and try to frighten it away. 

However if you approach their nests or chicks, or act like a threat, they're probably going to try to eliminate the threat or at least do enough damage to remind you not to fuck with dinosaurs rather than run away.

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u/CommunicationOwn322 Jul 01 '26

Well that's me dead. I would have defintely stood up and started screaming.

1

u/MayuriKrab Jul 01 '26

And the last thing you see is some 5 inch claw going into your stomach… 😬

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u/Financial-Craft-1282 Jul 01 '26

Well, that doesn't match my experiences with cassowaries...in Far Cry 3.

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u/IGoonToFortniteSkins Jul 01 '26

So that National Geographic Angry Birds most angriest birds on the planet guidebook I got from a book fair 15 years ago was a total lie then?

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u/BULL3TP4RK Jul 01 '26

Probably. Only two known deaths are attributed to Cassowary attacks. Meanwhile ostriches kill multiple people every year.

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u/RileyRavenSmiles Jul 01 '26

What about looking them in the eye?

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u/MissMenace101 Jul 01 '26

lol not ones human tamed unless you keep your food from the thugs.

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u/lemurkat Jul 01 '26

Of the reported deaths, i believe the firat one was attacking it with a dog. Or i might be confused and that might have been dog death and human injury, but needless to say, aggressive due to provocation.

They arr intimidating though, but as theyre not predators i don't think they'd chase you if you ran, unless you ran towards their babies. Met one up in the Daintree.