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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
by 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 agoYou were in Australia. Generally speaking, when we put a warning sign up about an animal it's worth assuming the worst.
- BLKNSLVR 7y agoYou only get a relatively small sign on north Queensland beaches warning of the presence of salt-water crocs and bluebottle jellyfish.
- cibyr 7y agoBluebottles 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.
- elyobo 7y agoI saw a pair up close in a parking lot near some sight in the Daintree, north of Cairns. Knowing what they were I immediately retreated, but a lot of people crowded in taking photos... This pair just walked past the cars and back out the other side of the lot but it did seem like a bullet was dodged :D