Tourists and staff got up close and personal with some wild cassowaries at Daintree Discovery Centre yesterday, with sightings of the large birds on the rise. 

Two young male cassowaries were seen cruising through the centre, drinking and bathing themselves in the nearby Maclean’s Creek.

Cassowaries and their chicks often roam into new territory as the chicks develop and become able to travel longer distances.

Yesterday’s encounter caps of six weeks of increased up-close sightings of the birds.

Centre guide Chris Bennett said the birds were most likely on the prowl for lunch, with heavy rains interfering with the development of rainforest fruits, their preferred food source.

“The rain has damaged the flower structure of many important plants and this has led to minimal fruiting,” Chris said. 

“As a result the cassowaries have had to extend their daily foraging for fruit over a larger area - it’s not uncommon for them to cover up to 30 or 40 kilometres a day.”

However rainforest ecologist Professor Peter Pavlov said it wasn’t all bad news for the big birds.

“The cassowary’s favourite food - the aptly-named cassowary plum - is ripening into season now,” Prof Pavlov explained.

“Over the coming months the cassowary plum will once again become their staple food source.”

The Daintree Discovery centre has several cassowary plum trees on the property, with Dr Pavlov predicting more sightings as the birds come looking for their favourite food.

However he added that more sightings did not always mean more cassowaries, saying further work was needed. 

“Although regular sightings are always welcomed, this does not indicate that there are higher numbers of cassowaries in the region,” he said. 

“The adult cassowaries that live in the Daintree are using all of the remaining available rainforest for their food sources and this is why it is so important to increase the rainforest area by replanting degraded land.

“They are still listed as an endangered species and like any wild animal should not be approached - humans and dogs are the biggest threat to the decline in cassowary numbers.”

Cassowaries, currently listed as ‘Vulnerable’ under the ICUN Red List, have powerful legs with sharp talons and are capable of inflicting seriously damaging kicks if aggravated. 

Daintree Discovery Centre, which plants over 2500 rainforest trees a year, allows visitors to observe cassowaries in their natural habitat from elevated walkways.