Southern Cassowary (Australian)
EPBC Status: Endangered
SPRAT Species Profile: Casuarius casuarius johnsonii — Southern Cassowary (Australian)
Found in: Queensland
Threatened Species Strategy Scorecards:
Southern Cassowary Year 3 scorecard 2018 (PDF - 512.69 KB)
Southern Cassowary Year 3 scorecard 2018 (DOCX - 1.13 MB)
Year 3 Scorecard Summary (2018)
The Southern Cassowary is a flightless bird and the largest native animal in Australian rainforests. Cassowaries have an important function in maintaining the rainforest plant diversity and community structure through dispersing large seeds.
In Australia, Southern Cassowaries are found in Queensland’s Wet Tropics and Cape York Peninsula, but occurrence within their natural range has been greatly reduced and fragmented by historical forest clearance.
Since the 1990s, habitat protection and rehabilitation of the Wet Tropics rainforest by many people, including natural resource managers, Indigenous and conservation groups, private landholders, local councils and the Queensland Government, have reduced the threat of ongoing habitat loss and cassowary populations currently appear stable.
Through the Threatened Species Strategy, the Australian Government has contributed to expansion of rainforest rehabilitation areas, to join up previously fragmented rainforest blocks and provide greater habitat connectivity for cassowaries.
Further information
- Threatened species strategy
- 20 birds by 2020
- 20 mammals by 2020
- 30 plants by 2020
- Three year review of progress on priority bird and mammal species
Please note that this scorecard is due for review in Year 5 of the Threatened Species Strategy (2020). If you would like to contribute information on this species please provide your contact details to ThreatenedSpeciesCommissioner@awe.gov.au
Photo credit: © Liz Gallie