Cassowary (Australian Bird) (Wild Animal Art) Card

This design features a painting by the French Rococo artist Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686–1755). It shows a cassowary bird in its natural landscape. Cassowaries are a type of large bird that cannot fly. They are part of a group of flightless birds called the ratites. The ostrich, emu, moa (now extinct) and small kiwi are other ratites. The cassowary lives in the tropical rainforests of New Guinea (Papua New Guinea and Indonesia), Aru Islands (Indonesia) and north eastern Australia. They are shy birds that are afraid of humans; they are capable of inflicting serious injuries, if threatened. Cassowaries often live deep in the forest. A group of cassowaries is sometimes called a shock. The original artwork by Jean-Baptiste Oudry was painted in 1745.