\u201cThey occupy very rugged and remote terrain. So, to be able to find scats, get sightings through camera traps or collect DNA is very challenging,\u201d said Wren McLean, a cassowary researcher and member of the Cassowary Recovery Team<\/a>.<\/p>\n Estimates have changed dramatically since the turn of the 21st century, growing from fewer than 1,500 birds in the early 2000s to around 4,400 in the most recent national survey, which was conducted between 2012 and 2014.<\/p>\n Led by Australia\u2019s national science agency, CSIRO, that survey<\/a> recommended that population monitoring become a \u201ccentral component\u201d of the species\u2019 management and should be carried out more frequently.<\/p>\n More than a decade later, that hasn\u2019t happened.<\/p>\n The Cassowary Recovery Team has produced a new conservation plan for the species, set to be released this year by the federal government.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are recommending frequent resurveying to track the population trajectory of cassowaries,\u201d McLean said.<\/p>\n That 2012-14 survey introduced innovative techniques, including DNA sampling, to identify cassowaries from scat samples. This remains one of the few reliable ways to estimate population size at scale.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s expensive and challenging to deploy across the roughly 9,000 square kilometers<\/a> (nearly 3,500 square miles) of Queensland\u2019s World Heritage rainforests that cassowaries call home.<\/p>\n With increasing road strike deaths and more frequent extreme weather events, quantifying the species is key to its conservation.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is critical to know how many cassowaries there are with worsening effects from climate change, McLean explained, which amplifies other threats.<\/p>\n Before European settlement, which began in the late 1700s, cassowaries ranged<\/a> uninterrupted along Australia\u2019s northeast coast, from Queensland to Cape York. Early colonial accounts describe<\/a> this large, flightless bird as \u201cplentiful\u201d in all the \u201cdeep gullies and at the bases of high hills.\u201d<\/p>\n By the 1980s, concerns were growing about the impacts of hunting, dog attacks, habitat loss and development: Around one-fifth of rainforest cover had been cleared<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cassowaries continued to decline, with little action taken to protect them. But a turning point came in 1988, when a wave of environmental campaigns<\/a> against logging helped secure World Heritage status for the Wet Tropics of Queensland<\/a>. The listing protected vast tracts of rainforest, including the Daintree, often described as the world\u2019s oldest tropical rainforest, and marked a major shift in how the region\u2019s ecosystems were managed.<\/p>\n In the years that followed, conservation policies, community advocacy and reforestation began to stabilize cassowary populations. The establishment of the Wet Tropics Management Authority (WTMA) formalized Australia\u2019s commitment under the World Heritage Convention to \u201cprotect, conserve and rehabilitate\u201d the area.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were over 3,000 km [more than 1,800 mi] of logging tracks in the Wet Tropics 40 years ago. Now regenerated rainforests provide extra habitat for cassowaries and many other animals,\u201d said Terry Carmichael, a senior project officer for WTMA.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the Wet Tropics, scientists, local communities, Traditional Owners and tour guides all report cassowaries being at their best numbers in many years,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Without recent data, ongoing recovery remains uncertain, and cassowaries face many of the same threats as other Australian animals: disappearing homelands, roads and development that fracture habitat, growing extreme weather events and more.<\/p>\n Of the three living cassowary species, the southern cassowary is the only one that\u2019s native to Australia. As a gardener of Queensland\u2019s rainforests, this bird is critical to regeneration of tropical plants and trees: The cassowary spreads the seeds of more than 200<\/a> species, and it\u2019s of particular importance for\u00a0rainforest trees such as the cassowary plum (Cerbera floribunda), whose fruit is too large for other animals to eat.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout cassowaries dispersing seeds, composition of the rainforest would change, and some plants may become greatly restricted or be threatened with extinction,\u201d said Kelvin Davies, founder of the nonprofit Gondwana Rainforest Trust<\/a>.<\/p>\n The southern cassowary breeds slowly, with females usually laying clutches of 3-5 eggs, so populations take time to rebound. The male incubates the eggs and raises the chicks alone.<\/p>\n These large, flightless birds roam through forests in search of seasonal fruit, making them dependent on connected habitats. So across the Wet Tropics, conservation groups<\/p>\n are restoring habitat and buying back land to further protect cassowaries.<\/p>\n \u201cWe find local landowners and some of them say, \u2018well, I\u2019ve got 5 hectares [12.3 acres] that I don\u2019t use, and I\u2019d like to have that revegetated,\u2019 and we try to help,\u201d said Peter Trott, who works with the Community for Coastal & Cassowary Conservation<\/a>.<\/p>\n The goal is to reconnect fragmented habitat. Trott oversees propagation and planting of more than 250 native rainforest species. He said expanding habitat is essential if cassowary populations are to grow.<\/p>\n \u201cThey may have filled the carrying capacity of available habitat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s a smaller population [than pre-colonial levels], and so, it\u2019s more susceptible to things like low genetic diversity and extreme weather events.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the Wet Tropics Management Authority, road strikes are the single greatest measurable threat<\/a> to cassowaries in Far North Queensland. In an April 15 Facebook post<\/a>, the Australian nonprofit Terrain<\/a> reported that two cassowaries were killed on local roads during the previous week \u2014 and a male with two chicks was hit and limped back into the forest.<\/p>\n In response to this threat, Queensland\u2019s transportation department<\/a> tested new cassowary\u2011activated warning signs in 2024 along the Kuranda Range Road<\/a>. These movement-activated signs correctly identified 97% of cassowaries, and the warning signs reduced driver speeds by an average of 6.3 kmh (3.9 mph). A department spokesperson said the technology shows \u201cstrong potential to improve road safety and reduce wildlife collisions.\u201d<\/p>\n Even as awareness of the dangers of roads has improved, new threats are building, increasing pressure on Australian wildlife. Heat waves and more frequent and damaging extreme weather events, such as Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle<\/a> in March 2026, strip trees of the fruits cassowaries need to survive.<\/p>\n Wildfires are also growing in both intensity and frequency. \u201cDuring an extreme heat wave event in 2019, 300 hectares (740 acres) of lowland tropical rainforest burned. This is unheard of,\u201d WTMA\u2019s Carmichael told Mongabay.<\/p>\n Because of rising heat, \u201cThere is also a decline in biodiversity in our mountaintop rainforest, he said.<\/p>\n Far from the highways and tourist trails of the Wet Tropics, the southern cassowary population on the Cape York Peninsula remains an understudied group.<\/p>\n In 2022, McLean worked with the Indigenous Gudang Yadhaykenu People in Apudthma National Park<\/a> to survey the species. One morning, sitting around a fire, she was asked to demonstrate a cassowary call, which she\u2019d learned in the field.<\/p>\n What happened next shocked everyone.<\/p>\n \u201cI turned around [after making the call] to see a cassowary step out of the forest into the circle [of our group]. The last sighting of a cassowary in that area by a Traditional Owner was 40 years ago,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a magical start to the survey.\u201d<\/p>\n The moment hints at a cautious return of this iconic bird to parts of its former range and highlights how much is still unknown. Despite signs of recovery in some areas, no one can say with certainty how many cassowaries remain across Queensland today.<\/p>\n With mounting pressures from road mortality and climate change, the need for updated, large-scale population data is becoming increasingly urgent.<\/p>\n Banner image: The composition of Queensland\u2019s rainforests would change without cassowaries dispersing seeds, and some plants may become greatly restricted or even threatened with extinction. Image courtesy of the Gondwana Rainforest Trust.<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s new national park links habitat to protect koalas<\/a><\/p>\n Citations:<\/p>\n White, S. R. (1946). Notes on the Bird Life of Australia\u2019s Heaviest Rainfall Region. Emu -Austral Ornithology, 46, 81-122. doi:10.1071\/MU946081<\/a><\/p>\n Webber, B. L., Bradford, M., Ota, N., & Westcott, D. (2025). Predicting cassowary\u2013vehicle collision in the wet tropics of Australia. Wildlife Research, 52(4). doi:10.1071\/wr23089<\/a><\/p>\n ![\"1.A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1-1.jpg\")
<\/a>A camera trap image of an adult female cassowary roaming the Apudthama National Park in the Cape York Peninsula. Image courtesy of Wren McLean, Ipima Ikaya Aboriginal Corporation and Cape York NRM.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779806649_627_10.jpg\")
<\/a>A juvenile cassowary stands behind the watchful eye of its father. Male cassowaries are the sole carers of their young. \u00a0They are one of the few bird species where the father handles all incubation and rearing responsibilities. Image by Cooper Williams.
\nBack from the brink <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/7-2.jpg\")
<\/a>A pair of juvenile cassowaries in the Daintree Rainforest. These individuals will transition from brown, striped chicks to a solid light brown when they become sub-adults. Image by Cooper Williams.
\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/13.jpg\")
<\/a>The Daintree Rainforest is the world\u2019s oldest continuously surviving tropical rainforest, roughly 120 million years old. It has the highest biodiversity of any ecosystem in Australia. Image by Cooper Williams.
\nGuardians of the forest<\/p>\n![\"Kelvin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/3-1-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a>Kelvin Davies, from the Gondwana Rainforest Trust, says protecting existing habitat is the best way to protect cassowaries and while the rainforest can regrow naturally, it often needs a helping hand. Image by the Gondwana Rainforest Trust.<\/p>\n![\"Volunteers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4-2-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a>Volunteers and members of the local community are planting native trees to bring cassowary back. The Gondwana Rainforest Trust has already planted 6,000 trees (and counting) in the Daintree Rainforest in 2026. Image courtesy of the Gondwana Rainforest Trust.
\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/12.jpg\")
<\/a>The Wet Tropics World Heritage Area is a 450-km-long (280-mi-long) strip of ancient tropical rainforest in northeast Queensland, Australia, important cassowary habitat. Image by Cooper Williams.
\nDeadly roads and climate change<\/p>\n![\"Road](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/6-1-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a>Road strikes remain the leading direct cause of cassowary mortality, sparking measures to protect them, from new technologies, wildlife crossings, road signage and speed reduction zones to community awareness campaigns that encourage drivers to slow down. Image courtesy of the Gondwana Rainforest Trust.
\n![\"During](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2-1.jpg\")
<\/a>During the survey conducted by Wren and her team, four sub-adult cassowaries were captured by camera traps. It was a remarkable discovery: Cassowary are successfully breeding and returning to the Cape York Peninsula. Image by Wren McLean, Ipima Ikaya Aboriginal Corporation and Cape York NRM.
\nMystery still surrounds the cassowary<\/p>\n![\"There](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779806654_745_9.jpg\")
<\/a>There are three species of cassowary in the world. The subspecies Casuarius casuarius johnsonii (also known as the Australian Southern Cassowary or double-wattled cassowary) is endemic to Australia, and only found in the tropical rainforests of northeastern Queensland. Image by Cooper Williams.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779806655_806_92a8467a68ba6484f5372dc6c0c8580efd7d81cc823c1a1f46c9977026eb411e.png\")
<\/p>\n