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Physical Characteristics

• These large, flightless birds have a long, skinny neck with a hard helmet-like structure (casque) on top of the head. The skin around the eyes is greenish-blue, and deep blue to scarlet on the neck. The black feathers look like hairs. The muscular legs are scale covered.
• Size of average adult
  • height: 5 feet
  • weight: 130 pounds

Diet

• Wild: mainly fruit, seeds, berries, with supplements of insects, fungus, roots and small vertebrates

Behavior

• Spends much of day hidden
• Forages in early morning and late afternoon on forest floor
• Can run up to 30 miles per hour
• Kick can be lethal
• Swim very well and are often found near riverbanks
• Uses casque to clear path through the forest and dig up buried food items
• Reproduction
  • nest between July and September
  • female lays 4 - 8 green eggs on a 3 foot "platform" made from forest debris
  • male incubates eggs and protects hatchlings until they can care for themselves

Environmental/Global

• Habitat: rainforests and low swamps
• Distribution: northern Australia and New Guinea

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