Can You Vary the Cassowary? Using Multiple Measures to Assess and Compare Casuarius Activity in Human Care

Abstract

Little is known about cassowary behavior, thus making our understanding of their welfare needs in human care limited. Our study compared several welfare-related behavior metrics between two Southern cassowaries located at Adelaide Zoo. A 16 behavior, seven class ethogram, Shannon’s behavioral diversity index, and habitat use heat maps were implemented using ZooMonitor across a two-month observation period. The most frequent behavior class observed for both cassowaries was inactive followed by active behaviors. There were significant differences in four of the seven behavioral classes, with more social, grooming, and abnormal behaviors observed in the male and more foraging behaviors in the female. Habitat usage differed visually between sex with the male directed towards areas where the female was located. There was no significant difference in behavioral diversity between the cassowaries. Implications for cassowary welfare are discussed, as well as the importance of using multiple measures to assess animal well-being.