Diet and Dietary Preferences of the Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) in North Queensland, Australia

Abstract

We investigated the diet of the southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) by identifying the seeds and fruits in fecal droppings encountered on a set of transects over 2 yr in upland rain forest in the wet tropics of North Queensland. A total of 198 droppings containing 56 plant species were found. We surveyed fleshy fruit availability over the subsequent 68 mo on transects in the same area to ascertain fruiting patterns in the study area. The number of droppings found each month did not correspond to the pattern of available fruit biomass. There was no relationship between the fruit traits of moisture content, flesh to seed mass ratio, color, or crop size to contribution of a species to the diet. During the lean fruiting season (May–July) cassowaries relied more on species that fruited continuously throughout the year as they were significantly over‐represented in droppings, while annual fruiting species were under‐represented. During months of high fruit availability (October–December), continuously fruiting species were still over‐represented in the diet but became less important while annual and biennial species became more important. Significantly more species with large fruit and large seeds appeared in the diet than expected and we confirm that the cassowary contributes to the continued dispersal of these species over long distances and in large quantities.

Altered Ecologies: Fire, climate and human influence on terrestrial landscapes: Terra Australis 32

“…Pigs and bovids disperse small seeds in the same way as deer, but their role, if any, in dispersing larger seeds is not known. The extinct megafaunal marsupials of New Guinea probably dispersed some seeds in the same way as extant grazing and browsing megaherbivores (Webb 2008), but any role they had in the dispersal of large seeds is probably covered by the extant cassowaries, which still disperse seeds in large fruits (<6 cm) for long distances (Wright 2005;Bradford et al 2008). Orangutans are the largest arboreal frugivores and eat fruits of many different types, including the biggest species available.…”

Molecular phylogenetics of the species-rich angiosperm genus Goniothalamus (Annonaceae) inferred from nine chloroplast DNA regions: Synapomorphies and putative correlated evolutionary changes in fruit and seed morphology

“…Bat dispersal is less likely in Goniothalamus as species which are adapted for this mode of dis-606 persal generally possess fruits that are spatially separated from 607 the foliage(Marshall, 1983). Goniothalamus australis is unusual as 608 it has large monocarps that are borne on young growth; the fruits 609 are eaten by cassowaries and giant white-tailed rats after the fruits610 have fallen(Cooper and Cooper, 2004;Bradford et al, 2008).Goniothalamus fruits that are composed of large, sessile mono-612 carps (e.g., G. giganteus) are hypothesized to likely to be adapted 613 for dispersal as a single unit: this is supported by observations that 614 G. giganteus fruits are consumed by primates (according to herbar-615 ium specimen details: E. Sterk 185, L!). In many Goniothalamus species, however, the monocarp itself is the dispersal unit; in these 617 cases it can by hypothesized that stalked monocarps may be more ca.…”

From ratites to rats: the size of fleshy fruits shapes species' distributions and continental rainforest assembly

“…R. Soc. B 282: 20151998 native megafauna representative, the southern cassowary, which has a gape of up to 62 mm [9,24]. We included counts of wind-dispersed species as a non-fleshy (outlier) comparison group only to provide additional insights into the continental rainforest flora and the relative proportion of distinct fruit types and dispersal modes.…”