The Cassowary: World’s most dangerous bird (2016) • Hacker News Board

Re: The Cassowary: World’s most dangerous bird (2016)

#41

Post by crispinb » Sun, May 05, 2019, 11:32 AM UTC

nkozyra wrote: post #36

oska wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it really gets old the constant hyping of Australian fauna as 'dangerous', mostly it seems by US American media. Cassowaries in the wild are really not a danger to humans even though they have the potential to do possibly lethal harm. The cassowary is only going to act to defend itself; it's not a predator (unlike salties).

Do you think it's unfair to classify it as the most dangerous bird? What other would qualify?

Sorry to be a bore, but it really depends on what someone means by 'dangerous'.

If you mean 'potentially dangerous if encountered', then I guess it would be. When it comes to birds that might slice your abdomen open, it's in a class of its own.

If you mean 'actually dangerous in terms of causing injuries or deaths', you could say most. But the baseline for death-by-bird is so low that the word 'dangerous' seems a bit daft (Cassowaries exist in decreasing numbers in areas of relatively low human populations, are infrequently encountered and not usually aggressive). On the numbers, if Cassowaries are 'dangerous', then dogs, horses and cattle are all catastrophically homicidal.

Re: The Cassowary: World’s most dangerous bird (2016)

#42

Post by felipelemos » Sun, May 05, 2019, 11:45 AM UTC

mqus wrote: post #40

> Of course, Sara Hallager, the zoo’s curator of birds, adds that the keepers have a relationship with “every bird out here, except perhaps the flamingoes.”* OT: What does that star(*) denote? I'm always irritated if i can't find the corresponding footnote.

Probably this in the end:

"Editor's note October 7, 2016: An earlier version of this article stated that Sara Hallager was the Zoo's keeper of birds; she is the curator."

Which still keeps me wondering why the flamingos?

Re: The Cassowary: World’s most dangerous bird (2016)

#43

Post by BLKNSLVR » Sun, May 05, 2019, 12:23 PM UTC

nl wrote: post #33

bengalister wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having experienced being chased by a cassowary I cannot agree more, it felt like being in a Jurassic park movie being chased by a T-Rex. I visited Australia in January 2005, it was an organized road tour with a bunch of mainly young French people and a French guide. On the way to the outback near Cairns, we stopped and did a short hike in the forest to see a point of interest (I don't remember what). There was a warn…

You were in Australia. Generally speaking, when we put a warning sign up about an animal it's worth assuming the worst.

You only get a relatively small sign on north Queensland beaches warning of the presence of salt-water crocs and bluebottle jellyfish.

Re: The Cassowary: World’s most dangerous bird (2016)

#44

Post by nkozyra » Sun, May 05, 2019, 12:39 PM UTC

crispinb wrote: post #41

nkozyra wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think it's unfair to classify it as the most dangerous bird? What other would qualify?

Sorry to be a bore, but it really depends on what someone means by 'dangerous'. If you mean 'potentially dangerous if encountered', then I guess it would be. When it comes to birds that might slice your abdomen open, it's in a class of its own. If you mean 'actually dangerous in terms of causing injuries or deaths', you could say most . But the baseline for death-by-bird is so low that the word 'dangerous' seems a bi…

> When it comes to birds that might slice your abdomen open, it's in a class of its own.

Right. I don't think the intent here is "look how deadly Australia is!" as much as "here's a crazy animal rarely talked about that recently was in the news."

As an American, I think the assumption is that, say, the outback is a sparsely populated area with some dangerous wildlife like swaths of Africa and South America.

When I think of Australia my head goes to the coasts.

Re: The Cassowary: World’s most dangerous bird (2016)

#45

Post by catbird » Sun, May 05, 2019, 2:53 PM UTC

felipelemos wrote: post #42

mqus wrote: post #40

> Of course, Sara Hallager, the zoo’s curator of birds, adds that the keepers have a relationship with “every bird out here, except perhaps the flamingoes.”* OT: What does that star(*) denote? I'm always irritated if i can't find the corresponding footnote.

Probably this in the end: "Editor's note October 7, 2016: An earlier version of this article stated that Sara Hallager was the Zoo's keeper of birds; she is the curator." Which still keeps me wondering why the flamingos?

Zoos with flamingos tend to have a lot of them. I would guess they are hard to tell apart.

Re: The Cassowary: World’s most dangerous bird (2016)

#46

Post by brianyu8 » Sun, May 05, 2019, 2:55 PM UTC

seventyhorses wrote: post #2

A cassowary recently killed a man, apparently for the first time since 1926: https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/04/14/florida-ca... This article from 2008 is also interesting: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/invasion-of-th...

In the WaPo article:

"In 2012, an Australian tourist named Dennis Ward was kicked off a cliff into a body of water by a cassowary when he and his family were visiting Babinda Boulders in Queensland. 'It just came straight up to me, decided to pick on me for some reason, I don’t know what for,' Ward told the Cairns Post."

I shouldn't be laughing but that is an outrageous story.

Re: The Cassowary: World’s most dangerous bird (2016)

#47

Post by colordrops » Sun, May 05, 2019, 3:24 PM UTC

zizee wrote: post #35

etatoby wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I suspect that most people know that I don't think so. Spielberg and colleagues clearly didn't know it, or didn't realize the depth of the connection, and they influenced the public's perception of dinosaurs to a large degree.

> Spielberg and colleagues clearly didn't know it I don't think this is true at all. Micheal Creighton's book on which the movie was based made it really clear how birds and dinosaurs are connected. I am positive that Speilberg read it. The movie makes a lot of references to the connection: Dr. Alan Grant : A turkey, huh? OK, try to imagine yourself in the Cretaceous Period. You get your first look at this "six foot…

Agreed, I watched a documentary on how the special effects and sound people used birds as a reference to design the velociraptors.

Re: The Cassowary: World’s most dangerous bird (2016)

#48

Post by crispinb » Sun, May 05, 2019, 11:28 PM UTC

nkozyra wrote: post #44

crispinb wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry to be a bore, but it really depends on what someone means by 'dangerous'. If you mean 'potentially dangerous if encountered', then I guess it would be. When it comes to birds that might slice your abdomen open, it's in a class of its own. If you mean 'actually dangerous in terms of causing injuries or deaths', you could say most . But the baseline for death-by-bird is so low that the word 'dangerous' seems a bi…

> When it comes to birds that might slice your abdomen open, it's in a class of its own. Right. I don't think the intent here is "look how deadly Australia is!" as much as "here's a crazy animal rarely talked about that recently was in the news." As an American, I think the assumption is that, say, the outback is a sparsely populated area with some dangerous wildlife like swaths of Africa and South America. When I th…

> When I think of Australia my head goes to the coasts

Right. That's where we (nearly) all live. As it happens, cassowaries are also coastal creatures, but exclusively tropical. The tropics have been sparsely populated, though North Queensland has been 'growing' fast, so unfortunately the cassowary's days are numbered.

Re: The Cassowary: World’s most dangerous bird (2016)

#49

Post by cibyr » Tue, May 07, 2019, 1:07 AM UTC

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #43

nl wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You were in Australia. Generally speaking, when we put a warning sign up about an animal it's worth assuming the worst.

You only get a relatively small sign on north Queensland beaches warning of the presence of salt-water crocs and bluebottle jellyfish.

Bluebottles are basically harmless - they hurt, and if you're particularly unlucky you might even scar. Nothing be scared of.

Box jellyfish (Irukandji) are a different story. These days there's a good chance you'll live (if you get to hospital), but you'll be in extreme pain for days or even weeks.