Young northern cassowary; RSCC; 17th May 2014

Bred at RSCC ?

Nope imported by RSCC.

OK, thanks for that information !

Where did it come from? Is there only one?

There are two currently on exhibit.

I assume they are the only ones in the UK. Are there any even in the rest of Europe?

Tim – you've obviously taken advantage of today's glorious weather to revisit Sandwich. Has much changed, or arrived, since your previous visit – other than the appearance of these chaps? I presume these are still in the cuscus enclosure; any indication of when the intended inhabitants will appear, or where these will go when they do? Is the tiger area open yet, or still only when being shown around by a keeper? And were there many visitors there?

To answer your questions “Sooty”:-

The young cassowary depicted here is in the enclosure that has a label for bear cuscus, spotted cuscus and brown dorcopsis; the other young cassowary is opposite in the enclosure next to the youngest clouded leopard. There is no indication as to when the cuscus will be on show.

There are not many changes since my last visit on 5th April; the cassowaries were not on exhibit that day so seeing these was the most significant difference for me.

It is still only possible to get close to the Malayan tiger exhibit when accompanied by a keeper. There were a few families visiting today (and also a keeper from Twycross Zoo) but there were not many visitors.

nice shot Tim!

Does anyone know how long they will take to reach maturity?