Cassowaries are a threatened species. No-one really knows how many of these large flightless birds are left in the World Heritage tropical rainforests of northern Australia. Although local groups have made accurate counts of birds in their areas, the estimates for the total population are largely guesswork. The tests will enable us to tell whether the dung samples come from one bird or several, and to establish family relationships between the birds. Scientists know little about cassowaries, despite their significance to the functioning of the rainforests and their attraction to tourists.
Cassowaries look like stocky, stout-legged emus.
But their neck and head are brilliant shades of red, purple and blue, with spectacular wattles dangling from their necks. Dr Westcott says cassowaries eat a wide variety of rainforest fruits and produce dung with much of the fruit still intact. Cassowaries help regenerate the rainforest by dispersing large seeds over considerable distances. But we know surprisingly little about how far they move over a season, or about their mating and breeding patterns. Dr David Groth of Curtin University is working on the DNA side of the experiment, and the cloning, sequencing and the genetic analysis will be done in Perth.