5 ms·

Seeing a cassowary up close really feels like being able to see a dinosaur. They've got those three-toed dinosaur feet with legs as thick as yours, giant yellow

Seeing a cassowary up close really feels like being able to see a dinosaur. They've got those three-toed dinosaur feet with legs as thick as yours, giant yellow saucer eyes, iridescent skin and a weird head horn. It watches back at you. You really feel like you're looking at a dinosaur. Only thing it's missing is the teeth and maybe forelimbs. Otherwise it's like 80% of a dinosaur.

crispinb 7y ago
That struck me too the couple of times I've seen them in the wild. I found it evoked a certain awe to come across such a strange and magnificent creature just doing its own thing out there in the forest.
bbgm 7y ago
It looks pretty much (including the toothless beak) just the way a medium-large oviraptosaur would look like, at least in my mind.
CryptoPunk 7y ago
All birds are dinosaurs.
- colordrops 7y ago
  I suspect that most people know that - it's just that the cassowary looks a lot more like our notion of a dinosaur than other birds.
  - TheGoddessInari 7y ago
    And hopefully your local parakeet isn't trying to disembowel you...
  - etatoby 7y ago
    > I suspect that most people know that I don't think so. Spielberg and colleagues clearly didn't know it, or didn't realize the depth of the connection, and they influenced the public's perception of dinosaurs to a large degree.
    - zizee 7y ago
      > Spielberg and colleagues clearly didn't know it I don't think this is true at all. Micheal Creighton's book on which the movie was based made it really clear how birds and dinosaurs are connected. I am positive that Speilberg read it. The movie makes a lot of references to the connection: Dr. Alan Grant : A turkey, huh? OK, try to imagine yourself in the Cretaceous Period. You get your first look at this "six foot turkey" as you enter a clearing. He moves like a bird, lightly, bobbing his head. And you keep still because you think that maybe his visual acuity is based on movement like T-Rex - he'll lose you if you don't move. But no, not Velociraptor. You stare at him, and he just stares right back. And that's when the attack comes. Not from the front, but from the side. Later: Dr. Alan Grant : [the dinosaurs change direction] The wheel uniform changes just like a flock of birds evading a predator. In another scene: Lex : [the T-Rex has just killed a Gallimimus] I want to go now. Dr. Alan Grant : Look how it eats. Lex : Please! Dr. Alan Grant : [to Tim] I bet you'll never look at birds the same way again.
      - colordrops 7y ago
        Agreed, I watched a documentary on how the special effects and sound people used birds as a reference to design the velociraptors.
OneWordSoln 7y ago
Yeah, we have one (or maybe two?) at our local zoo and the setup is such that I was able to be eye-to-eye with one of them from less than two feet. That thing held my gaze with zero fear whatsoever of me. Unbelievable experience. It's a freakin' war machine. And strikingly beautiful as well.
- tdons 7y ago
  In Brisbane right? That's where I took this picture: https://www.thomasdons.nl/pht/original/australia-new-zealand/2012-05-29-011014%2B1000.2x.jpg https://www.thomasdons.nl/pht/original/australia-new-zealand...
  - OneWordSoln 7y ago
    No, in the US. It's a crappy small cage, maybe 20' square.
emmelaich 7y ago
And the feet. Compare the feet of a Cassowary to that of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
vbuwivbiu 7y ago
and they can make a terrifying sound to warn you
bengalister 7y ago
Having experienced being chased by a cassowary I cannot agree more, it felt like being in a Jurassic park movie being chased by a T-Rex. I visited Australia in January 2005, it was an organized road tour with a bunch of mainly young French people and a French guide. On the way to the outback near Cairns, we stopped and did a short hike in the forest to see a point of interest (I don't remember what). There was a warning sign in the parking lot about cassowaries. I had never seen a cassowary, even heard the name and didn't know what it was, like many of the people in the group. On the way back, we spotted a cassowary, it was static just a few meters from the track. We all took pictures but stayed on the track, at some point the cassowary probably felt threatened and started chasing us. We all ran, I remember looking back at it while being chased and it ran like a Jurassic park dinosaur. It was moving really fast, at an intersection, we all turned left downhill going away from the parking lot and it stopped chasing us. It never went on the track and it always staid in the forest, it could have easily outrun us. After I learnt the kind of injuries it could inflict to humans. The guide should have been more careful. Anyway it was a fun story to tell when I got home.
- nl 7y ago
  You were in Australia. Generally speaking, when we put a warning sign up about an animal it's worth assuming the worst.
  - BLKNSLVR 7y ago
    You only get a relatively small sign on north Queensland beaches warning of the presence of salt-water crocs and bluebottle jellyfish.
    - cibyr 7y ago
      Bluebottles are basically harmless - they hurt, and if you're particularly unlucky you might even scar. Nothing be scared of. Box jellyfish (Irukandji) are a different story. These days there's a good chance you'll live (if you get to hospital), but you'll be in extreme pain for days or even weeks.
- 7y ago

crispinb 7y ago

That struck me too the couple of times I've seen them in the wild. I found it evoked a certain awe to come across such a strange and magnificent creature just doing its own thing out there in the forest.

bbgm 7y ago

It looks pretty much (including the toothless beak) just the way a medium-large oviraptosaur would look like, at least in my mind.

CryptoPunk 7y ago

All birds are dinosaurs.

colordrops 7y ago
I suspect that most people know that - it's just that the cassowary looks a lot more like our notion of a dinosaur than other birds.
- TheGoddessInari 7y ago
  And hopefully your local parakeet isn't trying to disembowel you...
- etatoby 7y ago
  > I suspect that most people know that I don't think so. Spielberg and colleagues clearly didn't know it, or didn't realize the depth of the connection, and they influenced the public's perception of dinosaurs to a large degree.
  - zizee 7y ago
    > Spielberg and colleagues clearly didn't know it I don't think this is true at all. Micheal Creighton's book on which the movie was based made it really clear how birds and dinosaurs are connected. I am positive that Speilberg read it. The movie makes a lot of references to the connection: Dr. Alan Grant : A turkey, huh? OK, try to imagine yourself in the Cretaceous Period. You get your first look at this "six foot turkey" as you enter a clearing. He moves like a bird, lightly, bobbing his head. And you keep still because you think that maybe his visual acuity is based on movement like T-Rex - he'll lose you if you don't move. But no, not Velociraptor. You stare at him, and he just stares right back. And that's when the attack comes. Not from the front, but from the side. Later: Dr. Alan Grant : [the dinosaurs change direction] The wheel uniform changes just like a flock of birds evading a predator. In another scene: Lex : [the T-Rex has just killed a Gallimimus] I want to go now. Dr. Alan Grant : Look how it eats. Lex : Please! Dr. Alan Grant : [to Tim] I bet you'll never look at birds the same way again.
    - colordrops 7y ago
      Agreed, I watched a documentary on how the special effects and sound people used birds as a reference to design the velociraptors.

OneWordSoln 7y ago

Yeah, we have one (or maybe two?) at our local zoo and the setup is such that I was able to be eye-to-eye with one of them from less than two feet. That thing held my gaze with zero fear whatsoever of me. Unbelievable experience. It's a freakin' war machine. And strikingly beautiful as well.

tdons 7y ago
In Brisbane right? That's where I took this picture: https://www.thomasdons.nl/pht/original/australia-new-zealand/2012-05-29-011014%2B1000.2x.jpg https://www.thomasdons.nl/pht/original/australia-new-zealand...
- OneWordSoln 7y ago
  No, in the US. It's a crappy small cage, maybe 20' square.

emmelaich 7y ago

And the feet. Compare the feet of a Cassowary to that of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

vbuwivbiu 7y ago

and they can make a terrifying sound to warn you

bengalister 7y ago

Having experienced being chased by a cassowary I cannot agree more, it felt like being in a Jurassic park movie being chased by a T-Rex. I visited Australia in January 2005, it was an organized road tour with a bunch of mainly young French people and a French guide. On the way to the outback near Cairns, we stopped and did a short hike in the forest to see a point of interest (I don't remember what). There was a warning sign in the parking lot about cassowaries. I had never seen a cassowary, even heard the name and didn't know what it was, like many of the people in the group. On the way back, we spotted a cassowary, it was static just a few meters from the track. We all took pictures but stayed on the track, at some point the cassowary probably felt threatened and started chasing us. We all ran, I remember looking back at it while being chased and it ran like a Jurassic park dinosaur. It was moving really fast, at an intersection, we all turned left downhill going away from the parking lot and it stopped chasing us. It never went on the track and it always staid in the forest, it could have easily outrun us. After I learnt the kind of injuries it could inflict to humans. The guide should have been more careful. Anyway it was a fun story to tell when I got home.

nl 7y ago
You were in Australia. Generally speaking, when we put a warning sign up about an animal it's worth assuming the worst.
- BLKNSLVR 7y ago
  You only get a relatively small sign on north Queensland beaches warning of the presence of salt-water crocs and bluebottle jellyfish.
  - cibyr 7y ago
    Bluebottles are basically harmless - they hurt, and if you're particularly unlucky you might even scar. Nothing be scared of. Box jellyfish (Irukandji) are a different story. These days there's a good chance you'll live (if you get to hospital), but you'll be in extreme pain for days or even weeks.
7y ago