Hard
to see any connection between the behaviour of egrets and cassowaries but it is
a very odd thing about the cassowary and a new one on me. If these two reports
are independent, there is little option but to believe them. Nothing
mentioned in HANZAB about the cassowary that appears even close to
this.
Philip
I wonder if this has any bearing (a long shot?) on
the fairly frequently reported accounts (mainly in ethno-ornithology, but some
apparently by western observers) of "fishing" behaviour by cassowaries in New
Guinea?
For instance:
During the Crane Pacific Expedition in
1928-29, the expedition boat Illyria visited the Sepik to make natural history
collections. According to the expedition’s historian, Sidney
Shurcliff (1930: 226), the Head of the expedition’s scientific staff, Karl
Patterson Schmidt, told other team members:
“...a rather delightful story
about the cassowary which he says is well known in the world of science*,
although it has never been proven. According to the story,
the cassowary fishes by going into the water up to his neck and fluffing out his
hair-like feathers. Small fish, mistaking the feathers of the
bird for a mass of water vegetation, soon take refuge in them.
The cassowary, after waiting patiently in the water for a half hour or
so, makes a sudden rush for the shore and shaking himself thoroughly proceeds to
devour the fish thrown onto the ground.”
A very similar account by the French
anthropologist, Monique Jeudy-Ballini, from East New Britain.
“The Sulka
also attribute this bird with the peculiarity of using its body as a water
trap. Its cunning consists in squatting in water holes with
its wings outspread so that little fish or crustaceans will enter the feathers
to feed on parasites. They are rewarded for their greediness
by being eaten in turn when the cassowary, hopping out of the water, shakes
itself and gobbles them up as they fall to the ground.” (Jeudy-Ballini, 2002: 203).
References:
Jeudy-Ballini, M. (2002). "To Help and To
"Hold": Forms of Cooperation Among the Sulka, New Britain". In: M. Jeudy-Ballini
and B. Juillerat, Eds. People and Things: Social Mediations in Oceania.
Durham, N.C., Carolina Academic Press, pp. 185-209.
Shurcliff, S. N. (1930). Jungle
Islands: The "Illyria" in the South Seas. New York, G.P. Putnam's
Sons.
see also:
Gardner, D. S. (1984). “A note on
the androgynous qualities of the cassowary: or why the Mianmin say it is not a
bird.” Oceania 55(2): 137-145
*I assume Shurcliff had recently
read: Gudger, E.W. (1927). "How the Cassowary (Casuarius bennettii)
Goes A-fishing." Natural History, 27(5), 485-48.
Robin Hide
On
17/10/2010 1:47 PM, Peter Ormay wrote:
Thank you Lindsey and Paul
I saw that hunting technique on a wildlife
documentary years ago but missed what species employed it and where it lived.
It's a cunning method.
What species did you observe using
the technique in Australia Paul?
Cheers
Peter
