Cassowaries are omnivorous, but they prefer vegetable food. Their favorite food is tropical fruits and berries. Interestingly, the fruits are not fully digested in the stomach of the cassowaries and in the litter of birds there are always many seeds.
These seeds not only remain viable, but even increase the germination after treatment with gastric juice. In addition to plants, cassowaries eat snails, frogs, insects, small snakes, and muruk sometimes catch fish. Cassowaries drink often, using forest water bodies, which are abundant in damp forests. Despite the fact that cassowaries eat a lot of juicy fodder, they, as well as ostriches, swallow pebbles (touring), which help to grind food in the stomach.
There is no specific breeding season for these birds, but most often nesting occurs in the Australian winter and early spring (July to October). At this time, males divide the territory into plots of 1-5 km². When the females appear, they become animated and begin to turn. The mating dance of the cassowary is a bit like the behavior of a turkey: the male ruffles the feathers, his neck is inflated and bright, and he accompanies his actions with a “serenade” that sounds like a “bu-bu-bu-bu”. The formed couple spends together several weeks. Like y and emu, in cassowaries family troubles are the prerogative of males. They arrange the nests, and the females lay eggs in them and … move away. Cassowary eggs reach a length of 12-14 cm and weigh 500-650 g. Their shells are very dark, its shade varies from almost black to dark olive and dark green.
