All the research I have done suggests that only the Southern (Double-Wattled) Cassowary is generally held in zoos and private facilities, and that the Northern Cassowary and the Dwarf cassowary are almost non-existent in captivity. If this is correct, does anyone know why the two species are not or cannot be obtained by zoos or aviculture facilities for research and captive breeding? I'm just wondering where the obstruction is? Import to USA, export from New Guinea, CITES issues, Bird Flu issues, other???/ Thanks for any info. Bill
There are currently two young northern cassowaries at the Rare Species Conservation Centre, Sandwich, England. See the link below for details of cassowaries in Europe http://www.zootierliste.de/en/?klasse=2&ordnung=201&familie=20103&haltungen=0
Thanks, Tim. The only PDF document I can find on cassowaries in captivity is from 1992 with a notation of revisions 1997, and it estimates about 10-14 of the rare sub-species (northern and dwarf) in various facilities. I'm just trying to figure out why the ratio of double-wattled cassowaries to the other sub-species is so out of balance, in zoo collections. Bill
Possibly exports from Australia were formerly more common than those from New Guinea, so the Southern established more quickly/successfully, and the other species were less imported/succesful, and were only sustained in low numbers? There are apparently just 4 facilities with cassowary species other than Southern in Europe (according to zootierliste), but they are also kept in a number of Asian zoos and bird parks I think. No idea about numbers in the USA.
AFAIK, there are only Double-Wattled Cassowaries in at least AZA zoos, no idea on private collections or maybe some lesser known zoos. As for the subspecies kept in the U.S., I believe Smithsonian lists their's as the New Guinea one but most are the Australian one. ~Thylo
Beijing Zoo used to keep a pair of Single-wattled cassowaries for a long time, but they didn't breed and died several years ago.
