RE: Cassowary attack videos

[Chris Glen <s370548@student.uq.edu.au>]

I was amused by the comment "that's one mean turkey" or something like that
on the site.

Yes, easily amused and distracted - it's the definition of a phd student. 
Still is interesting to see the action, hard to visualise when reading the
accounts. Here's some refs (I think they may have been mentioned on DML
recently?)

Kofron, Christopher P. Case histories of attacks by the Southern Cassowary
in Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 49 (1): 339-342 30 June,
2003

Kofron, C. P. (1999). Attacks to humans and domestic animals by the southern
cassowary (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii) in Queensland, Australia. Journal
of Zoology (London). 249: 375-381.



...Back to the thesis (mental image of Captain Ahab roped to the rolling
back of a great white whale screaming "Die evil devil fish!", enunciating
with mindless stabs of the harpoon in hand, too busy to notice the other
skeletons rattling in the ropes)*

Chris Glen

* slight exaggeration

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu] On Behalf Of
> Sim Koning
> Sent: Tuesday, 9 January 2007 1:01 PM
> To: dinosaur@usc.edu
> Subject: Re: Cassowary attack videos
> 
> What, did you expect a video of a cassowary attacking and injuring a human
> being?=) Stories of cassowaries killing humans are highly exaggerated, and
> the last known case was in 1926, and I believe that was a 16 year old boy
> who got kicked in the neck. Like I said, the only cases I could find of
> cassowaries killing anything were of them kicking (probably small) dogs.
> In
> reality, more cassowaries are killed by dogs than the other way around.
> 
> I was comparing dromaeosaurs with them simply because they both have claws
> on their inside toe, and they may have used them in a somwhat similar
> fashion while kicking. I think it's obvious when actually looking at the
> cassowaries claw that a dromaeosaour have done far more damage with the
> same
> kick.
> 
> 
> >From: Mike Taylor <mike@indexdata.com>
> >Reply-To: mike@indexdata.com
> >To: simkoning@msn.com
> >CC: dinosaur@usc.edu
> >Subject: Cassowary attack videos
> >Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2007 14:30:57 +0000
> >
> >Sim Koning writes:
> >  > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOPVVdg8noc
> >
> >I can't help thinking that this video would have been better entitled
> >"When Cassowaries Stand Around".
> 
> 
> >From: "Jean-Michel Benoit" <s.aegyptiacus@wanadoo.fr>
> >Reply-To: "Jean-Michel Benoit" <s.aegyptiacus@wanadoo.fr>
> >To: <simkoning@msn.com>, <dinosaur@usc.edu>
> >Subject: Re: Cassowary attack videos
> >Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 21:45:14 +0100
> >
> >hello
> >honestly, apart from the animal size, I've seen worse agressivity in
> cases
> >involving geese or swans.(pers. experience), not to mention ostriches (tv
> >docs)
> >Cheers,
> >Jean-Michel
> >
> >
> >----- Original Message ----- From: "Sim Koning" <simkoning@msn.com>
> >To: <dinosaur@usc.edu>
> >Sent: Monday, January 08, 2007 2:46 PM
> >Subject: Cassowary attack videos
> >
> >
> >>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOPVVdg8noc
> >>
> >>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7Xs428faJA&mode=related&search=
> >>
> >>
> >>While watching these, you can't help but imagine dromaeosaurs doing
> >>something similar in self defense or against each other in battles for
> >>mates/territory.  While dramaeosaurs may not have had claws sharp enough
> >>to cut through muscle, they still would've been able to deliver painful
> >>and deep lacerations by dragging the tip of the claw through the skin,
> and
> >>a kick to the throat would've been fatal.
> >>
> >>You often hear about cassowaries disemboweling other animals, but I was
> >>only able to find one documented case of a cassowary killing a human,
> and
> >>that was a 16 year old boy who was killed when his carotid artery was
> >>severed by a kick. There are stories of cassowaries gutting dogs, but
> dogs
> >>are much smaller than a cassowary; I imagine dromaeosaurs would have
> been
> >>able to disembowel smaller prey just as easily. You may notice with the
> >>second video that the claw itself is actually surprisingly dull and
> >>straight, while a dromaeosaur claw had a very sharp tip, which would
> have
> >>made it more effective for cutting and stabbing than a cassowary's
> almost
> >>conical claw.
> >>
> >>Simeon Koning
> >>
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