The Dwarf Cassowary is a flightless bird of New Guinea. In a field study in Papua New Guinea’s mountains, fruit made up most of its diet throughout the year.
It is small compared with other cassowaries, with coarse black feathers and a casque-like crest on its head.
Dwarf Cassowaries inhabit New Guinea’s higher forests. The smallest cassowary lacks neck wattles and eats fallen fruit, fungi and small animals. Swallowed seeds travel with the bird.
A 1995 field study relocated thirty marked seeds after passage through cassowaries. Mean dispersal was 388 metres; seeds tended to reach level sites uphill from their source trees, influenced by walking and resting patterns.
This movement provides routes beyond seeds simply falling downslope. Protecting the bird and its forest helps retain interactions between fruiting plants and their dispersers.
IUCN Red List (conservation institution account) · Least Concern · Global
Forest loss and hunting are pressures, and the species is scarce or absent in heavily hunted areas. Hunting management and local cooperation are conservation priorities for maintaining birds and seed dispersal.