casuariiform

▪ order of birds

Introduction

  any member of a group of large, flightless birds (bird) that includes two families native to Australasia. The family Dromaiidae, made up of the single living species of emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae), is found only in Australia, whereas the family Casuariidae, made up of three species of cassowaries (cassowary) (Casuarius), is restricted to northern Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands. Of the two groups, the emu is far better known, both biologically and popularly, being exhibited in zoos around the world. The common characteristics of emus and cassowaries are described in this article; however, most authorities place casuariiforms with ostriches (ostrich), rheas (rhea), kiwis (kiwi), and others in order Struthioniformes.

      The emu was first identified by European explorers in 1788, more than a century after the first cassowaries had been seen by Europeans; in 1697 a Dutch navigator, Willem de Vlamingh, had seen the emu's footprints in western Australia and had attributed them to a “Kasuarius.” Cassowaries first became known to Europeans in the 17th century—there was a published reference to a “Casoaris” in 1658—when the Portuguese and Dutch colonized the East Indies. Both names, emu and cassowary, were originally applied to cassowaries; the emu was known as the New Holland or New South Wales cassowary until the early 19th century, when the name emu was gradually transferred to it. By the late 19th century about 11 species of cassowaries were recognized, but greater understanding of variation within species has reduced the number to three: the double-wattled, or southern, cassowary (Casuarius casuarius), the single-wattled, or one-wattled, cassowary (C. unappendiculatus), and the dwarf, or Bennett's, cassowary (C. bennetti).

Importance to humans

      The emu and cassowaries are important foods for the indigenous peoples of both New Guinea and Australia; the flesh of the thigh muscles somewhat resembles beef. In New Guinea cassowaries are captured as chicks and held in enclosures until they are large enough to eat. The feathers are frequently used for personal adornment. In Australia cassowary feathers were formerly used for the notorious kurdaitcha shoes, or “shoes of silence,” worn by Aboriginal executioners on nocturnal missions of tribal vengeance or punishment. During World War I members of the Australian cavalry regiments wore tufts of emu plumes on their slouch hats.

      Since the time of European settlement in southeastern Australia, the emu has become much less abundant, and three island forms have been exterminated by hunting. In Western Australia, however, the bird has remained common and has become a pest in the wheat-farming areas, breaking fences and trampling and eating crops. In 1932 members of an army machine-gun unit were employed in a campaign against a concentration of emus, estimated to be about 20,000, in the vicinity of the wheat-belt centre of Campion. The outcome of this bizarre Emu War, as it was called, has been summarized by the ornithologist D.L. Serventy as follows:

The machine-gunners' dreams of point blank fire into serried masses of Emus were soon dissipated. The Emu command had evidently ordered guerrilla tactics, and its unwieldy army soon split up into innumerable small units that made use of the military equipment uneconomic. A crestfallen field force therefore withdrew from the combat area after about a month.

      Yearly kills of emus in Western Australia for bounty payments vary from about 5,000 to nearly 40,000 birds. The emus, however, remain plentiful, and small parties may be seen within 15 to 20 km (9 to 12 miles) of Perth, the capital of the state.

Natural history

Reproduction

      Throughout its climatically varied range, the emu is a winter breeder; egg laying begins at the end of April. The nest is a flattened bed of bark, grasses, and leaves near a tree or bush and is situated so that the sitting bird (always the male) has a good view of its surroundings. Despite their size, nests are extremely difficult to find. The large green eggs, with granulated shells, average about 130 mm (5 inches) in length and 87 mm (3.4 inches) in width and weigh 450 to 800 grams (1 to 1.8 pounds). They are laid at intervals of about four days, and the male starts to incubate the eggs when the hen has laid five to nine. The normal clutch size is eight, nine, or 10 eggs; large clutches contain up to 16. In exceptionally good seasons as many as 20 eggs may be laid, in poor seasons as few as four or five. Incubation varies from about 58 to 61 days, during which the male seldom leaves the nest, even to feed. The newly hatched chicks, which are concealingly streaked with black, are brooded by the male for two or three days before they begin to move around in his company. Normally two years are required to reach maturity. In the nonbreeding season the groups coalesce into flocks, which may undertake local movements or more extensive migrations. Marking with leg bands has proved that individual emus may travel hundreds of kilometres.

      Far less precise data are available on the annual cycle of the cassowaries. According to several observers, the eggs are laid in winter and are incubated by the male for 49 to 52 days. The eggs are paler green than those of the emu and there are fewer in the clutch, which varies from three to eight. Maturity may not be reached until the second or third year. Cassowaries are not gregarious in the nonbreeding season but live as pairs or family parties.

Ecology

      Cassowaries are more pugnacious and aggressive than the emu. They are essentially creatures of the tropical rainforests, where they are extremely difficult to observe. Their diet consists mainly of fruit. Emus, on the other hand, live under a wide variety of environmental conditions, ranging from dense temperate forest to open plains and arid scrub country. They frequently exhibit a curious inquisitiveness toward human activities and may be lured to close range by various devices, as for example the waving of objects in the air, a habit that was utilized by the Australian Aborigines in hunting them. Emus are basically vegetarian, subsisting on fruits, seeds, and vegetation of all kinds. They will nevertheless also feed on insects, including caterpillars and grasshoppers, when they occur in great numbers.

      Emus and cassowaries swim well and are fast runners. Emus are capable of a stride of nearly 3 metres (10 feet) and can keep up with an automobile traveling as fast as 40 to 50 km (about 25 to 30 miles) per hour for some distance.

Vocalizations

      Both sexes of the emu are reported to utter resonant drumming notes and guttural grunting calls, under varying conditions. Less is known about the calls of cassowaries, but scattered accounts indicate that they are similar to those of the emu.

Form and function

 Next to the ostrich (Struthio camelus), the emu is the largest and heaviest of living birds; large individuals stand between 1.5 and 1.8 metres (5 and 6 feet) high and weigh up to 55 kg (120 pounds), although most are well below that weight. Females are slightly larger, averaging about 40 kg (about 90 pounds), while the males average about 36 kg (80 pounds).

      The sexes are alike in colour (coloration); the plumage is sombre brown, or brownish black, and the naked skin on the head and neck is blue. All three species of cassowaries are black and, except for the dwarf cassowary, have fleshy pendulous wattles of red, orange, or yellow on the head and neck. The head is crowned with a horny casque, or helmet, believed by some authorities to protect the bird from injury by branches during rapid movements in the forest. The plumage of casuariiforms is loose and hairlike because of the lack of barbules, the secondary branches that interlock to form the flat vane in the feathers of most birds. There are no feathers differentiated as tail feathers, but cassowaries have five quills of the wing modified into hollow, unbranched spines.

      As with many running birds, casuariiforms have only three toes, the hind toe having been lost. The inner toe of cassowaries is armed with an elongated, daggerlike claw, making the foot a formidable weapon in kicking.

      The casuariiform skeleton is similar to that of the other large flightless birds (ratites (ratite)) in the reduction of the wing elements and of the keel on the sternum (breastbone) and in the enlargement of the leg elements. Vestigial clavicles (collarbones) remain in the shoulder girdle, but the humerus (upper “arm” bone) is much reduced, being shorter than the combined forewing and manus (“hand”). The manus has a single digit, now believed to be the third, which bears a long claw.

      The pattern of bones in the palate, an important diagnostic feature in the taxonomy of ratites, is of the palaeognathous or dromaeognathous type (common to all ratites), in which the vomer bones of the skull extend back to separate the palatines. The casuariiforms have the simplest form of this palate type, with large vomers and short palatines.

Evolution and paleontology

      Fossil remains of casuariiform birds (bird) have been found only in the Australian region, and most of those recorded are relatively recent, from the Pleistocene Epoch (some 1.8 million to 11,800 years ago), with one doubtfully from the Pliocene (about 4 million years ago). The latter, although definitely a member of the emu assemblage, showed features linking it with the cassowaries. The absence of fossil material notwithstanding, the order must have had a long evolution during the Cenozoic Era (from 65.5 million years ago to the present). The distribution of the Casuariidae has evidently shrunk in recent millennia; the only species occurring on the Australian mainland is the double-wattled cassowary (C. casuarius), which is restricted to New Guinea and the Cape York Peninsula of northern Queensland.

Classification

      The following classification of the order is accepted by some authorities; however, most place emus and cassowaries in the order Struthioniformes. Casuariiforms make up a small group of four species that span two genera. It should also be noted that the extinct populations of emus on King Island and Kangaroo Island, between Australia and Tasmania, have recently been recognized as full species (Dromaius ater and D. baudinianus, respectively).

Order Casuariiformes

 Large graviportal (ponderous) flightless birds with 3 toes. Other physical features described in Form and function (casuariiform), above. Monogamous. Eggs green in colour. 2 genera and 4 species.

      Family Casuariidae (cassowaries (cassowary))

 Beak laterally compressed. Prominent horny casque on mesethmoid, nasal, and frontal bones of the skull. Coracoid bone of the shoulder much shorter than in the emu. Bony union (symphysis) between various posterior elements of the pelvis may be present or absent. Femur not pneumatized by air sac system. 18 or 19 cervical vertebrae. Wing with 5 quills modified as long hollow spines. Pendulous coloured wattles on throat and neck (except in dwarf cassowary). 1 genus and 3 species.

      Family Dromaiidae (alternatively Dromiceiidae; emu)

 Beak flattened dorsoventrally. Head not casqued. Pubic symphysis lacking. Femur pneumatic. Trachea with an aperture in front, leading to an inflatable neck sac. Pendulous wattles absent. 1 extant species.

Critical appraisal

      At present, Casuariiformes is recognized by most authorities as a junior order. Emus and cassowaries are typically placed with ostriches, rheas, kiwis, moas (moa), and others as separate families within the order Struthioniformes. DNA analysis supports the hypothesis that emus and cassowaries became separated from other struthioniforms as a result of the final breakup of the supercontinent of Gondwana about 80 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period.

D.L. Serventy

Additional Reading

D. Fleay, “Nesting of the Emu,” Emu, 35: 202–210 (1936), presents observations of this species in captivity. D.W. Gaukroger, “The Emu at Home,” Emu, 25:53–57 (1925), describes nesting habits in the wild. Austin L. Rand and E. Thomas Gilliard, Handbook of New Guinea Birds (1967), contains a summary of the biology and classification of cassowaries; and D.L. Serventy and H.M. Whittell, Birds of Western Australia, 5th ed. (1976), includes a summary of emu habits and statistics of kills. H.L. White, “Notes on the Cassowary (Casuarius australis Wall),” Emu, 12:172–178 (1913), presents field observations on habits and nesting in Queensland, with illustrations.D.L. Serventy Ed.

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