From dinosaur palms to living dinosaurs

[DUNDEE]

Thought I had come across a Hadrosaurs nest in my garden, and was hoping to god it wasn't a velociraptor's, but alas it was just a pile of Raphis Australis seeds that a white tail rat had gathered together for a feast in the root bowl left by a fallen palm tree.

 The living dinosaur is a local cassowary that frequents my property to eat fallen foxtail seeds.. they do a great job of seed dispersal like the native rats do, there are foxtails popping up everywhere through the jungle here, as well as a lot of other exotic palms, the seeds of which were stolen out of their pots from my nursery. The picture of the germinating rain forest tree seeds is form a cassowary dropping, it can be seen to contain Calamus seeds with scales still attached ... these droppings often contain foxtail, ptychosperma, Normanbya, Calamus and golden cane seeds, as well as a host of native tree species all deposited in a pile of fertilizing manure.

[User00]

 nice 

[DoomsDave]

Don't get too close . . .

I understand Cassies have a wicked kick, with spikes.

[Pal Meir]

2 hours ago, DUNDEE said:

Thought I had come across a Hadrosaurs nest in my garden, and was hoping to god it wasn't a velociraptor's, but alas it was just a pile of Raphis Australis seeds that a white tail rat had gathered together for a feast in the root bowl left by a fallen palm tree.

 The living dinosaur is a local cassowary that frequents my property to eat fallen foxtail seeds.. they do a great job of seed dispersal like the native rats do, there are foxtails popping up everywhere through the jungle here, as well as a lot of other exotic palms, the seeds of which were stolen out of their pots from my nursery. The picture of the germinating rain forest tree seeds is form a cassowary dropping, it can be seen to contain Calamus seeds with scales still attached ... these droppings often contain foxtail, ptychosperma, Normanbya, Calamus and golden cane seeds, as well as a host of native tree species all deposited in a pile of fertilizing manure.

I guess that those might be Easter eggs collected by an Easter bunny for coming Easter …

[DoomsDave]

Wabbits --

Wepwoduce!

[mcrawford]

What a wonderful beast you have roaming your grounds!

My wife found an orphaned roadrunner a while back and

nursed it back to health.  It looks like a baby velociraptor,

but is missing the magnitude of the cassowary.  I recently

affixed a "critter-cam" to my hammock holding date palm

and have caught lots of interesting beasts at night.

[mcrawford]

Too quick on the trigger.  I meant to attach a couple photos.

[DUNDEE]

G'Day Monte Awesome wildlife there too by the looks of it.

 We have so many native birds here, but because of the dense rain forest I know them more by their calls than actually seeing them.  This would be our equivalent to your road runner ... Curlew .. they can fly but prefer to run around in pairs.

[DUNDEE]

A few more wildlife shots about my property... guess the wallabies are our greatest road runners... always trying to get themselves run over. The animal in the pool is a bandicoot.

[mcrawford]

Wow!  What wild life.  My critters seem common next to these.

Is the Cassowary as dangerous as is told?  My cats seem only

to roam at night, often trying in vain to eat my koi.  My friend in

Santa Barbara has a resident lynx so bold it is a daytime resident.

So glad I don't live in the city and miss all this!

[DUNDEE]

Wow pretty cat, love those eyes!!!! ...   Cassowaries have the weaponry to kill with a single kick without a doubt, and so do Roo's. but only if cornered and threatened like most snakes here, leave them alone and all should be good.  Cassowaries can be quite inquisitive however always looking for a free feed...  This one swallowed our tennis ball whole during a game of beach cricket at Etty Bay, they are quite capable of passing seeds as large as that so no damage done.. had to go hunting for a new ball though. 

[DoomsDave]

2 hours ago, mcrawford said:

Wow!  What wild life.  My critters seem common next to these.

Is the Cassowary as dangerous as is told?  My cats seem only

to roam at night, often trying in vain to eat my koi.  My friend in

Santa Barbara has a resident lynx so bold it is a daytime resident.

So glad I don't live in the city and miss all this!

I live in the city, and I see and I see it all.

Well,the suburbs, anyway. And, there's a mountain lion in the middle of LA.

Great pictures!

 

[DoomsDave]

28 minutes ago, DUNDEE said:

Wow pretty cat, love those eyes!!!! ...   Cassowaries have the weaponry to kill with a single kick without a doubt, and so do Roo's. but only if cornered and threatened like most snakes here, leave them alone and all should be good.  Cassowaries can be quite inquisitive however always looking for a free feed...  This one swallowed our tennis ball whole during a game of beach cricket at Etty Bay, they are quite capable of passing seeds as large as that so no damage done.. had to go hunting for a new ball though. 

You have the wildlife. Have mercy!

[Pando]

34 minutes ago, DUNDEE said:

Wow pretty cat, love those eyes!!!! ...   Cassowaries have the weaponry to kill with a single kick without a doubt, and so do Roo's. but only if cornered and threatened like most snakes here, leave them alone and all should be good.  Cassowaries can be quite inquisitive however always looking for a free feed...  This one swallowed our tennis ball whole during a game of beach cricket at Etty Bay, they are quite capable of passing seeds as large as that so no damage done.. had to go hunting for a new ball though. 

 

[DUNDEE]

Blahahah love it...

[Josh-O]

43 minutes ago, Pando said:

Nailed it Pando 

lol

[steve99]

I doub't there is a bird anywhere in the world with legs more robust looking than those of a Cassowary.

 

 

 

 

[NApalm]

Dundee, I'm loving your threads. A grade reading

[Mandrew968]

Me too. The part of Australia you live at--you and Pete, looks like prime paradise. Love the wildlife and your experience with them--you tell people her, that you have snorkled with alligators and they freak out. If you know how to be around wildlife, it can be amazing.

[Tracy]

10 hours ago, DUNDEE said:

Cassowaries have the weaponry to kill with a single kick

Your close up shots really confirm that statement.  Those are some serious weapons.  Great thread, and interesting how effective they are at both distributing and fertilizing your palm seeds.  They practically do all the work for you!  Maybe the secret is to just buy seeds for the things you aren't already growing and leave them out for them.  You can then wait a couple of years and wonder your property to see if you can id what actually is growing.

[Dave-Vero]

I get a suspicion that foxtails somehow got trapped in their isolated little native range, and may be quite capable of colonizing lots of new areas.  The big fruits look fit for something smaller than a horse but bigger than a squirrel, so cassowaries might be perfect.  Years ago, ecologist Daniel Jantzen noted that there were Costa Rican trees with fruits perfect for horses, which of course ate and dropped them.  But horses had been absent from the end of the Pleistocene until the Spanish brought them back.  The trees persisted. 

[Rusty on Pine Is.]

22 hours ago, DUNDEE said:

A few more wildlife shots about my property... guess the wallabies are our greatest road runners... always trying to get themselves run over. The animal in the pool is a bandicoot.

Nice pythons...are they Amethystines?

[DUNDEE]

Sure are Rusty..... Had a 20 footer in the back of the shade house once twisted all through the pots...never though I would find the end of him.. lool needless to say I let him find his own way out.!

 We also get Green, Water, Childrens, Olive, and Carpet pythons around here. Plus a host of others. Snake capitol of the world I think.

 

[DUNDEE]

And some juicy big spiders too.

[edric]

Great work Justin, thanks for posting, Ed

[User00]

great photos, any ground parrots in your garden 

[Yunder Wækraus]

On 3/22/2016, 8:43:32, DUNDEE said:

Thought I had come across a Hadrosaurs nest in my garden, and was hoping to god it wasn't a velociraptor's, but alas it was just a pile of Raphis Australis seeds that a white tail rat had gathered together for a feast in the root bowl left by a fallen palm tree.

 The living dinosaur is a local cassowary that frequents my property to eat fallen foxtail seeds.. they do a great job of seed dispersal like the native rats do, there are foxtails popping up everywhere through the jungle here, as well as a lot of other exotic palms, the seeds of which were stolen out of their pots from my nursery. The picture of the germinating rain forest tree seeds is form a cassowary dropping, it can be seen to contain Calamus seeds with scales still attached ... these droppings often contain foxtail, ptychosperma, Normanbya, Calamus and golden cane seeds, as well as a host of native tree species all deposited in a pile of fertilizing manure.

Love it! My favorite bird