Cassowary species past and present questions

[Adrian k]

I am a great fan of the beautiful Cassowary species and living in the UK I was quite surprised to see so few collections holding this species I was wondering if these collections have ever managed to breed the species and how many they hold of the species.

Southern or double-wattled cassowary -
Birdland park & garden
Chester zoo
Hamerton zoo
Paignton zoo &
Edinburgh zoo

The following Cassowary species I believe are currently not held by any UK collections but my question for these species does anyone know if or when any of the following species were kept in collections in the UK.

Aru Islands Cassowary – none
Bennett’s Cassowary – none
Dwarf Cassowary – none
Golden necked cassowary – none
Goodfellow cassowary – none
Heck’s cassowary – none
Johnstone’s cassowary – none
North coastal cassowary – none
North new guinea cassowary – none
Northern cassowary – none
One-wattled cassowary – none
Painted throated cassowary – none
Philip’s single-wattled cassowary – none
Red necked cassowary – none
Rothchild’s one-wattled cassowary – none
Sclater’s cassowary – none
Seram or common cassowary – none
Violet-necked cassowary – none
Wandammen cassowary – none
Westermann’s or Papuan cassowary – none
Woken or beccari’s cassowary – none
Yapen golden-necked cassowary - none

Are there any prospects of any of the above species actually coming to the UK?

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Golden-Necked Cassowary were held at RSCC until not long before it closed, and were photographed by numerous Zoochatters whilst there. Sadly, as I never got there, this is a taxon I missed out on

Considering you obviously used ZTL in order to come up with that list of current holders of Double-Watted, along with other cassowary taxa, I suspect your first port of call regarding your questions should be to look on there!

 

[Adrian k]

Many thanks TLD as we all know some information could be out of date on ZTL as I found out with Drayton Manor Park & Zoo listings around 50% are no longer their and they have some new arrivals too.

It's mainly the past I am interested in for this species as I couldn't find much information on google or any other search engine I tried.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Former holdings tend not to get out of date, of course

 

[Adrian k]

how do I find former holdings from the species index and not the collection index?

 

[Adrian k]

How thick of me found it many thanks for your help.

 

[Adrian k]

According to ZTL these are the former holdings within the UK

Aru Islands Cassowary Chester zoo
Aru Islands Cassowary Whipsnade wild animal park
Aru Islands Cassowary London zoo

Bennett’s Cassowary London zoo

Dwarf Cassowary London zoo

Golden necked cassowary London zoo

Golden necked cassowary Rare species conservation centre

Goodfellow cassowary London zoo

Heck’s cassowary London zoo

Johnstone’s cassowary London zoo

North coastal cassowary London zoo
North coastal cassowary Paignton zoo

North new guinea cassowary London zoo

Northern cassowary Chester zoo
Northern cassowary London zoo

One-wattled cassowary London zoo

Painted throated cassowary London zoo

Philip’s single-wattled cassowary London zoo

Red necked cassowary London zoo

Rothchild’s one-wattled cassowary London zoo

Sclater’s cassowary London zoo

Seram or common cassowary London zoo

Violet-necked cassowary London zoo

Southern or double-wattled cassowary Rode bird garden
Southern or double-wattled cassowary Howlett’s wild animal
Southern or double-wattled cassowary Bristol wild place
Southern or double-wattled cassowary Bristol zoo
Southern or double-wattled cassowary Dudley zoo
Southern or double-wattled cassowary Whipsnade wild animal park
Southern or double-wattled cassowary Birdworld & underwater world
Southern or double-wattled cassowary Knowsley safari park
Southern or double-wattled cassowary London zoo
Southern or double-wattled cassowary Lympne wild animal park
Southern or double-wattled cassowary Sherwood zoo
Southern or double-wattled cassowary Flamingo zoological park
Southern or double-wattled cassowary Twycross zoo
Southern or double-wattled cassowary Marwell zoo
Southern or double-wattled cassowary Peak wildlife Prk
Southern or double-wattled cassowary Fife animal trust
Southern or double-wattled cassowary Glasgow zoo

Wandammen cassowary London zoo

Westermann’s or Papuan cassowary London zoo

Woken or beccari’s cassowary London zoo

Yapen golden-necked cassowary London zoo

Can people please help with when these species were in the collections last?

 

[bongorob]

Blackbrook also held Aru Islands cassowary.

Chesrter has never bred cassowaries.

Edinburgh and Paignton have.

 

[Tim May]

Chesrter has never bred cassowaries.

Edinburgh and Paignton have.

Cassowaries hatched at London Zoo back in the 1860s

 

[Chlidonias]

I must note that there are only three species of cassowary. The bulk of the lists above are made up of dodgy taxonomic names dating from when every second cassowary was treated as a separate subspecies.

 

[Adrian k]

Chlidonias which would you say are the main three species so as I can then work out the sub species

Many thanks all for the information please keep it coming if you more about UK breeding of these wonderful birds

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Double-wattled (casuarius), Single-wattled (unappendiculatus) and Dwarf (bennetti) are the three recognised species; again, if you look on ZTL from where you got this list it will tell you which are which.

 

[ISOE2012]

The collections you've listed in your first post all hold pairs, apart from Paignton, which holds 3.0 (including 1.0 subspecies)

 

[TeaLovingDave]

The collections you've listed in your first post all hold pairs, apart from Paignton, which holds 3.0 (including 1.0 subspecies)

Incorrect; Hamerton only holds a single individual.

 

[Angel]

Southern or double-wattled cassowary Dudley zoo
Can people please help with when these species were in the collections last?

Dudley certainly had cassowary in 1978. I'm fairly sure that the species was at Dudley after this date but I don't have any later photographs of them.

 

[ISOE2012]

Incorrect; Hamerton only holds a single individual.

Since when? records are showing that they have a pair.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Since when? records are showing that they have a pair.

Not sure when, but I'm given to understand from a conversation with someone currently volunteering at the collection that it now only holds a single individual; I'd assume that if you are looking at ZIMS or similar the records have not been updated yet.

 

[zoogiraffe]

Hamerton do only have the 1 at present they should have at least a pair before the end of this year. If things go to plan with building work.

 

[SHAVINGTONZOO]

I have a photo - somewhere - of one at Shavington Zoo (or possibly at Dr English's house in Haslington!) c.1931. Not sure which species.

 

[Tim May]

Cassowaries hatched at London Zoo back in the 1860s

My earlier post was made in haste and from memory.

I have now had time to check details of the cassowaries hatched at London Zoo about 150 years ago.

• 21st June 1864 – Bennett’s cassowary
• 22nd June 1866 - common cassowary (presumably double-wattled)
• 18th July 1867 - common cassowary (presumably double-wattled)

I am a great fan of the beautiful Cassowary .......

Anybody interested in cassowaries should visit the Tring Zoological Museum.

The founder, Lord Walter Rothschild was obsessed by cassowaries and he acquired more than sixty mounted specimens for his museum. (He also kept live cassowaries in Tring Park.) Unfortunately not all of Rothschild’s sixty plus cassowaries are currently on exhibit in the museum but there is still a fine display of cassowaries on show there.