Ever
since I have heard of Cassowaries I have wanted to see one. Cassowaries are
giant flightless birds that have inhabited Australia since it was part of
Gondwana, the Southern Supercontinent superseding Australia's independence from
any mainland. They are nearly the size of Ostriches and look as prehistoric as
they are. They have huge Velociraptor-like claws and a crest that looks like it
could have been stolen from the armor of a Stegosaurus. They look fierce enough
that they could have beaten up on dinosaurs and very well could have if
their time on earth had overlapped with their featherless ancestors.
Unfortunately they were less prepared for the animal whose existence does
overlap with theirs: Homo sapiens. Extensive logging of the lowland rainforests
have led to substantial declines in the Cassowary's population. Furthermore,
Cassowaries are a keystone species due to their role as a seed disperser of
large fruit. There are numerous trees and plants whose seeds require passage
through the Cassowary's digestive system in order to germinate It is not
impossible for these trees to reproduce in the absence of Cassowaries, but the
rate of successful germination does drop significantly. Thus there has been a
huge amount of effort to restore their population in recent years for the sake
of their intrinsic importance as well as for the sake of the Wet Tropics
lowland rainforests. You can see why I was so anxious to see one.
The Daintree is one of the best
places to see a wild Cassowary. Just last year, a group of SFS students saw a
father with three chicks (it is the male that endures the grueling task of
parenting). And so optimistically prepared myself to see one. Before arriving
at our campground we stopped at a beautiful type 1A forest where we hiked,
walked the suspension bridge and then swam and enjoyed smoko (Aussie slang for
tea/snack time) by the stream. 
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| Metallic Starlings |
From here we completed our journey to the
Crocodylus lodge (our Daintree headquarters) where we unpacked and hung out
until dinner. Nothing much happened after dinner so I'll just skip to the following day. We started it off by going on a trip to the Daintree Discovery Centre where we walked
up the canopy tower for a better view of the reserve. It was here that I saw a
flock of Metallic Starlings that had built elaborate nests that hung from
branches. In the information centre, they had several Jungle Carpet Pythons, a
Boyd's Forest Dragon and life-size models of Cassowaries. And on the Cassowary
Circuit we saw a Cassowary Satin-Ash and a
Cassowary Plum, but no real-life Cassowaries.
After the Discovery Centre we
finally got to see our Tropical Field Ecology Professor's infamous Daintree
Jungle House. Almost every lecture she mentions some spectacular animal
sighting she'd seen from her veranda, so we were anxious to finally get to see
what she was referring to. We were greeted by her husband who does a lot of
research on Wild boars, an invasive species that has caused damage to
rainforests. He gave us a tour and showed us how they managed to live
sustainably by treating and using rainwater, using a compostable toilet and
installing a solar cell above the forest canopy. When I return home I may
suggest installing a solar cell at our house above the pine trees, since my dad
is always complaining that the shade inhibits the power-generating ability of
our attic and greenhouse and threatens to chop the heads off of them. I always
retort by saying the decreased sequestration rates in the pines would defeat
the attempt to reduce our carbon footprint by increasing light penetration to
our greenhouse, though I'm not exactly sure how one would go about proving
that.
After
exploring our professor's awesome house, we hopped in the vans and arrived at the Palm forest, which was by far my favorite forest type of the ones we have seen so far. The palms were as large as boulders, four or more feet across. I
truly felt like I was experiencing the world of the dinosaurs as I traipsed my
way under the massive fronds. It was by far my favorite of all the forests we
have seen. 
After the Palm Forest we picnicked at Cape Tribulation, which as
publicized is where the Forest meets the Ocean. It was beautiful to behold. The
stereotypical paradise of white sand and coconut trees was not an inaccurate
description of the beach. There was even a nearby forested Island that sat
tantalizingly close to our beach, but unfortunately we were banned from swimming
due to the risk of Jellies. Nonetheless we had fun just wandering about,
munching on coconut and playing beach rugby.
Last day.
I'm becoming angsty about losing my opportunity to see a Cassowary. In
desperation, I go on an early morning hike to see if I cannot find one. I do
not get too far down the trail before I see something very large running
through the trees. I then see something much smaller running not too far away
from it. This is where my curiosity and excitement outweigh my common sense and
I sprint towards what I perceived to be a Cassowary with at least one chick. I
catch up to the chick only to find that it is just an Orange-footed Scrubfowl
and by the time I realize this, the larger animal had bolted. I continue calmly
down the trail and notice a multitude of boar tracks. It is this observation
that forces me to accept the fact that the large animal I witnessed was most
likely a Wild Boar and not a Cassowary. I continue around the loop anyway,
which turned out to be much longer than I expected. I finally make it back to
camp, disappointed and frustrated. I shove down my breakfast since everyone
else had eaten by that point.
My
frustration did not last long because we were scheduled to go on a river cruise
to see one of the coolest reptiles on the face of the Earth: the Saltwater
Crocodile. We all filtered into a windowless cruiser and drifted out into
saline water in pursuit of these ancient beasts. Right away we saw a few small
two to three-year old crocs on a bank. As we went we were told us to look for
newborns and we did see a few swimming about in the mangroves. This was all
fine and well, but I wanted to see one that had the potential to rip my arm off
if I got too close. Our tour guide warned us that Liz (the mother of the
newborns) usually stayed close to them, but he hadn't seen her over the past
few days. Thinking that this was just my luck, my excitement level dropped for
awhile until a tour guide from another boat told us that he had just seen Liz
on the shore close by, and indeed she was still there when we got there. A
remarkable 8-foot-long beast, she was amazing to view. Though tolerant of us
being there, I could tell that she could easily take down any one of us if given
the chance. Crocodiles, I am convinced, are of the toughest species in the world.
I still don't know how Steve Irwin, or anyone for that matter ever could have
managed to wrestle such a magnificent creature.
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