Cassowaries

Writhedhornbill

Writhedhornbill

Well-Known Member
I'm making a page for zooscene about cassowaries, and I need help!

I have a list of questions, so if you could answer them, I'd be very appreciative!

What zoos currently keep Bennett's cassowaries?
Do you have any pictures of their enclosures?
What zoos have kept Bennett's Cassowaries but now don't?
What zoos have bred Bennett's Cassowaries?
What was the first zoo to breed them?

What zoos keep single wattled cassowaries?
Do you have any pictures of them and their exhibits?
What zoos have kept Single wattled Cassowaries but now don't?
What zoos have bred Single wattled Cassowaries?
What was the first zoo to breed them?
(Mainly to Sebbe) What are they like to keep?
What do they eat?
How easy are they to acquire?

Any pictures of Southern cassowary exhibits?
What zoos have bred these recently?
What was the first zoo to breed them?
(Mainly to Sebbe) What are they like to keep?
What do they eat?
How easy are they to acquire?
 
Hi Jonathan,
I took some pictures of the cassowaries at Blackbrook last weekend - I know you go there yourself are the pictures any use to you for your website? I was going to resize my pics and upload them today anyway.
 
The only Bennet's cassowaries in Europe are at the "Nederlandse Opvang Papegaaien (NOP)" aka Dutch Parrot Refuge in Oerle, a small town near Eindhoven in the Netherlands. There are only females (3 if i'm correct) who were first kept at Avifauna, then at Walsrode and when both zoo's did not manage to acquire a male they were retired to the NOP. I don't have any pictures of their enclosure, perhaps some others have (Trebaruna/Pedro?). Foto's of the animals are (amongst others) on The ZooTrotters - Home .

Now only Walsrode have single-wattled cassowaries in Europe, i don't know the exact numbers but someone will... Photo's will be around, at least one on Trebaruna's fotopic Casuarius unappendiculatus rufotinctus - Roodhalscasuaris .jpg @ Fotopic.Net

The double wattled are very regurlarly bred at Avifauna birdpark (i believe a further 2 last year) and after a long pause, Artis Amsterdam managed to get a chick last year as well.
 
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london zoo held Bennett's and Single-Wattled until the later 80's, in runs which divided up the current anoa paddock in the Stork and Ostrich house. Older members with photos of these enclosures in the 1970's and 1980's may well have some photos of the Cassowaries. I have no idea if they bred, but I only ever saw single animals of each, and the pens weren't really designed to facilitate the breeding of these birds.
 
Now that you mention it Hornbill, I have photos from 1988 of both the Bennett's and the single-wattled from London, in the enclosures mentioned by johnstoni. I just need to find them. I hope you're not in a hurry. Bennett's Cassowaries bred in 1864 at London Zoo.
 
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Rob Bredl up in Airlie beach QLD was a big breeding of Southern Cassowaries, he supplied many zoos Aust Wide!
They are common place in zoos, will take some photos for you next week.
 
jwer said:
The only Bennet's cassowaries in Europe are at the "Nederlandse Opvang Papegaaien (NOP)" aka Dutch Parrot Refuge in Oerle, a small town near Eindhoven in the Netherlands. There are only females (3 if i'm correct) who were first kept at Avifauna, then at Walsrode and when both zoo's did not manage to acquire a male they were retired to the NOP. I don't have any pictures of their enclosure, perhaps some others have (Trebaruna/Pedro?). Foto's of the animals are (amongst others) on The ZooTrotters - Home .

Now only Walsrode have single-wattled cassowaries in Europe, i don't know the exact numbers but someone will... Photo's will be around, at least one on Trebaruna's fotopic Casuarius unappendiculatus rufotinctus - Roodhalscasuaris .jpg @ Fotopic.Net

The double wattled are very regurlarly bred at Avifauna birdpark (i believe a further 2 last year) and after a long pause, Artis Amsterdam managed to get a chick last year as well.
Click to expand...

I acctually think there is several Northern Cassowaries still remaning in Europe, but unfortunely there is no pairs anywhere, all kept solitary, Europaradise in Portugal kept at least 1 adult male very recently, and I think they still does have it. Both the Northern and Dwarf Cassowary is vanishing species in collections outside Asia.

cassowary03 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Here is a photo from Europaradise in Portugal.
 
I have started to work on a second list, similar to my Bird of Paradise project, with my hope to document the history of all New Guinea species in captivity. Unfortunely I have not come long so far, but aim pretty much done with the cassowaries, at least the Dwarf and Northern.

Here is a list of institutions that held Dwarf Cassowarry at least 3-4 years ago, but as most keep only 1-2, birds may have died since and though no longer kept in some places, anyway, here we go. A X means that I have seen it myself

Dwarf Cassowary
San Diego Zoo (USA) X
Papegaaienpark NOP (The Netherlands) X
Avilon Zoo (Philippines) X
Ragunan Zoo (Indonesia)
Bali Zoo (Indonesia)
The Rainforest habitat (Papua New Guinea) Not 100% sure about this one.
National Capital Botanical Gardens, Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea) X

Here is a list of institutions that held Northern Cassowarry at least 3-4 years ago, but as most keep only 1-2, birds may have died since and though no longer kept in some places. The Northern Cassowary is the most common cassowary in Philippine and Indonesian zoos.

Northern Cassowary
San Diego Zoo (USA) last kept quite a long time ago
Sonoma Bird Farm (USA) last kept quite a long time ago
Cincinatti Zoo (USA) last kept quite a long time ago
Walsrode (Germany) X
Europaradise (Portugal)
Khao Kheow Open Zoo (Thailand) X
Chiang Mai Zoo (Thailand) X
Jurong Birdpark (Singapore) last kept quite a long time ago
Avilon Zoo (Philippines) X
Zoobic Safari (Philippines) X
Cikananga Animal Rescue Center (Indonesia)
Ragunan Zoo (Indonesia)
Surabaya Zoo (Indonesia)
Bali Bird Park (Indonesia)
Bali Zoo (Indonesia)
The Rainforest habitat (Papua New Guinea)

Hope this helps Jonathan.

Will write together some info about my own experaiances tomorrow.
 
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Paignton hold Southern Cassowary. I'll try to get some photos this week. They have a large natural looking enclosure with lots of trees and shrubs so are not always visible.
 
Writhedhornbill said:
Thanks Sebbe, That information really helps!

Which of the above zoos have bred them?
Click to expand...

I dont think any of the Asian zoos I have listed has breed either Dwarf or Northern Cassowary in the last years, most cassowaries (if not all) in south-Asian zoos is confiscated birds, some places may have kept pairs in the past but I have only been to one zoo that kept a pair.

That was Zoobic in the Philippines, they had a pair of Northern Cassowary (orange-necked form), but they kept them in a very barren encloaser, there was hardly a single plant, not very likely to breed.

Would be very interresting to know about other places in Europe, or USA that has kept Dwarf or Northern Cassowary. Aim sure that several german zoos has kept at least Northern in the past.

Its a shame that both Dwarf and Northern Cassowary is disapering in captivity outside Asia, to be honest I find the southern Cassowary to be the least interesting of all three species, and suprised that not even one insitution has focused on the other two.
 
The following information on former keepings (after 1945) is available on the German Zoo-animal list: (ZootierlisteHomepage)

Northern Cassowary:
Berlin (Tierpark): 1977 - 1993 (no breeding)
Berlin (Zoo): ? (no breeding)
Darmstadt (Vivarium): ? (no breeding)
Nürnberg (Zoo): ? (no breeding)

Dwarf Cassowary:
Berlin (Zoo): 1973 - ? (no breeding)
Darmstadt (Vivarium): ? (no breeding)
Walsrode (Vogelpark): ? - ca 2005 (one breeding in total)
 
Paignton Cassowary

I've sent 4 photos of the cassowary and their enclosure to your email address. As I said, it's a large enclosure, about 1/4 acre, with lots of trees. It's divided in two and sometimes Alfie and Marina are separated, sometimes together. Without tracking down a lesser spotted keeper, I can tell you from my records up to 2004, that they have bred regularly, with a couple of eggs being pulled from their nest scrape each year to be incubated. The resultant chicks have been transferred to other collections.
 
sebbe67 said:
to be honest I find the southern Cassowary to be the least interesting of all three species...
Click to expand...

the southern cassowary is the biggest of the cassowaries and i think you'd be hard pressed to argue that it is any less attractive than the other two species. i think the only reason you find it "less interesting" is because it is more common that the other two. i'm not having a dig - i agree establishing all species in captivity should be a priority - but i think when it comes to comparing the three, its pretty unfair to rate them - all three are equally splendid animals.
 
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