The dangerous bird may have been a faithful companion and life-threatening weapon to humans thousands of years ago.
A study of over 1000 fossil eggshells found in New Guinea gives strong indications that the bird cassowaries were used as domestic animals. It was previously believed that humans kept chickens as pets 9,500 years ago. Now the study shows that cassowaries were domesticated long before chickens. The finds of eggshells were made in two caves that have been used by collectors and hunters 6,000 to 18,000 years ago.
Using high-resolution 3D scanners, researchers have investigated the stages of development in which the eggs were opened, writes CNN and the NY Times, among others. They found that the vast majority of eggs were opened late in development, when the chickens were fully developed, and not early when the plum and white are edible. The findings indicate that the people in the cave collected the eggs when they had been incubated for so long that the embryo was almost fully developed.
Was not eaten
Some of the shells showed burn marks on the skulls, while others had no signs of being cooked.
– There are enough eggshells without burn marks so that we can see that they were hatched and not eaten, says assistant professor Kristina Douglass at Penn State University. She is the lead author the study published in the research journal PNAS.
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– The behavior we have seen happened thousands of years before humans tamed chickens, she says.
The reason why these birds are considered the most dangerous in the world is the dagger-like claw of 10 centimeters that grows on each foot. The claws use the fierce and territorial birds to defend, by kicking the opponents. In 2019, a man in Florida was killed by such a bird (CNN).
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But the birds are also very loyal to the first one they attach to, and it is mostly the first individual they meet, after hatching from their egg.
Two meters high
There are three different cassowaries. The largest females can grow up to two meters tall and weigh 58 kilos. The smallest – the dwarf cassowaries – are 1 – 1.5 meters long and weigh 18 to 26 kilos.
Today, cassowaries are kept as livestock in the New Guinea Highlands. The birds are popular both because of the flesh and the feathers.
– It is possible that cassowaries were also highly valued in the past, since they are the largest vertebrates on the island. Feeding cassowaries from chickens would provide easy access to meat and feathers, as they are difficult to hunt in adulthood, says Douglass.
Cassowaries are solitary animals and therefore like to be alone. They are usually very shy and are experts in spotting humans and escaping into the dense vegetation of New Guinea long before they are discovered.
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