CASSOWARIES CAUGHT COOLING OFF IN JUNGLE POND
Source Cairns Post 5 Dec 2018
Peter Carruthers
A CASSOWARY dad and his brood of three chicks have been caught on camera beating the heat by taking the plunge in the refreshing waters of a Mission Beach pool.
Source Cairns Post 5 Dec 2018
Peter Carruthers
A CASSOWARY dad and his brood of three chicks have been caught on camera beating the heat by taking the plunge in the refreshing waters of a Mission Beach pool.
The video was captured by award winning conservationist, Liz Gallie on her iPhone at the junction of two all year round creeks in the Bingil Bay reserve near Mission Beach.
The adult male known to Mission Beach Cassowaries as Joov and can be seen in the clip with three chicks, estimated to be about four months old.
"They absolutely love water. They make noises like you when taking a dip in cool water on a really hot day," she said.
"It's obviously a very pleasurable thing to do, especially on a hot day."
Not an uncommon sight, Ms Gallie explained proximity to bodies of water was critical to the survival of the species.
"Cassowaries have to be near water and access water to drink about 20 times a day, so they are never far from water and in this hot weather we don't see them moving around at all during the middle of the day," she said.
Ms Gallie said Joov has struggled in the past to raise a successful brood.
The adult male known to Mission Beach Cassowaries as Joov and can be seen in the clip with three chicks, estimated to be about four months old.
"They absolutely love water. They make noises like you when taking a dip in cool water on a really hot day," she said.
"It's obviously a very pleasurable thing to do, especially on a hot day."
Not an uncommon sight, Ms Gallie explained proximity to bodies of water was critical to the survival of the species.
"Cassowaries have to be near water and access water to drink about 20 times a day, so they are never far from water and in this hot weather we don't see them moving around at all during the middle of the day," she said.
Ms Gallie said Joov has struggled in the past to raise a successful brood.
"We are really pleased as it is the best family he has raised so far, he has had a hard time keeping them (alive)," she said.
Ms Gallie said the mother of previous chicks had been very intolerant of the chicks making their survival difficult to ensure.Ms Gallie said the preservation of wildlife corridors in the Mission Beach area was critical to the ongoing preservation of the cassowary.
"A lot of the corridors left around Mission Beach are only there because they are waterways and are really important for them to be able to move around the landscape, without them they have nowhere to go," she said
.
Mapping of the habitat by Terrain NRM was started but never completed in the northern parts of Mission Beach, Ms Gallie said.
"So when councils make decisions, they look on their maps and it does not exist and yet the cassowaries are there," she said.
Ms Gallie has been the recipient of the Cassowary Award presented by the Wet Tropics Management Authority and Mission Beach Cassowaries won an Australia Day Award in 2 016 .
Ms Gallie said the mother of previous chicks had been very intolerant of the chicks making their survival difficult to ensure.Ms Gallie said the preservation of wildlife corridors in the Mission Beach area was critical to the ongoing preservation of the cassowary.
"A lot of the corridors left around Mission Beach are only there because they are waterways and are really important for them to be able to move around the landscape, without them they have nowhere to go," she said
.
Mapping of the habitat by Terrain NRM was started but never completed in the northern parts of Mission Beach, Ms Gallie said.
"So when councils make decisions, they look on their maps and it does not exist and yet the cassowaries are there," she said.
Ms Gallie has been the recipient of the Cassowary Award presented by the Wet Tropics Management Authority and Mission Beach Cassowaries won an Australia Day Award in 2 016 .
