Maxine Harrison
A woman had a close encounter with the world’s most dangerous bird on an Australian beach.
Julie Nos and her daughter Chelsea were decked on Etty Beach in Australia when they were approached by a bird labelled as a 'living dinosaur’ and the world’s most dangerous bird.
The ostrich-looking bird is called a cassowary.
In an interview with 7NEWS Cairns, Julie told the station: “We had heard that there were cassowary’s there and when we got there, we couldn’t find any at all."
But that quickly changed when the curious cassowary walked right up to the two on their deck chairs seemingly searching for snacks. Explaining how she felt in the moment, she and her daughter felt in the encounter, Julie said: “We had a little bit of freeze mode going on. There was a little bit of shock”.
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She continued: “Sort of thought they were like emu-like birds but afterwards we found out that they can be killers.”
These birds are native to Australia, Northern Australia, New Guinea, and other surrounding areas. Descended from dinosaurs, cassowary can stand up to six feet tall and even weigh as much as a whopping 160 pounds.
Though they do not fly, their powerful feet make up for this as it propels them forward.
However, despite cassowary’s being labelled as the world’s most dangerous bird, as far as humans are concerned, the good news is that they are typically quite reserved and not overly aggressive. Therefore, attacks from these creatures are thankfully rare.
But in the rare case that they do attack, they can do significant damage if angered to that point. Attacks from the bird have often been fatal.
One of the most recent ones occurred in 2019 of a Florida man. The 75-year-old man named Marvin Hajos died from his injuries after he was believed to be in the vicinity of the bird and at some point fell, per BBC.
Cassowary’s are also claimed to be one of the dinosaur's closest living relatives, per Sedgwick County Zoo.
“Cassowaries, and ratites in general, are considered pretty close living relatives of certain avian dinosaurs,” Zoological Manager Ana France said.
"These birds are flightless birds, ratites - meaning that they’re in the same Order as other birds like the ostrich or emu.
“Ecologically, they are incredibly important for their habitat,” said France.
“They are a primary seed disperser for approximately 240 different species of fruits that they eat.”