The Southern Cassowary – what’s in a name?

Today there are three recognized species of cassowary. In the past many more species and subspecies were suggested, but due to several factors they can no longer be confirmed. The Australian Cassowary is officially called the Southern Cassowary, but also the Double-wattled Cassowary and Two-wattled Cassowary; scientific name - Casuarius casuarius (Linnaeus, 1758). It also occurs in Papua New Guinea, and the close-by Indonesian islands. The Australian Cassowary is sometimes considered a sub-species, Casuarius casuarius johnsonii (Mueller, 1866) - with a cobalt blue neck, not dull purple. This is sometimes mistakenly called Johnstone’s Cassowary, but the connection is not to the Johnstone River, nor to Sub-inspector Robert Johnstone, but to a Johnson, who collected the specimen.

Authorship has strict nomenclature rules, but in Zoology there can be considerable variation in spelling of authors (eg Mϋller, Mueller, and F. Mϋller for Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, Victorian state botanist (F.Muell. is the standard botanical abbreviation) and Linnæus, Linné, Lin. for the Swedish naturalist, Carl (Carolus) Linnaeus / Carl von Linné, who formalized the modern system of naming species (L. is the standard botanical abbreviation). Modern usage now has the full surname only. The use of parentheses indicates that this is not the original genus name, or combination. A colon separation indicates a subsequent use of the name,ie not the original author.

Casuarius casuarius was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 18th century work, Systema Naturae, as Struthio casuarius, using a specimen from Seram, (Ceram), in 1758. This is the type species of the genus Casuarius described by Mathurin Jacques Brisson, French zoologist and philosopher, in 1760. Brisson importantly provided much more detailed species descriptions and expanded the number of orders and genera of birds - from the small generalized groupings of Linnaeus. Linnaeus is the author, although he used the ostrich genus.

Westermann’s Cassowary is probably a fourth species - to be split from the Dwarf Cassowary, following recent DNA work. Called after a Mr Westermann who provided the first specimen. Studies of the Australian Cassowary have shown great variability in shape and size of helmets and wattles. Cassowaries also hybridise naturally; all of which adds confusion to species decisions.

Sclater’s Cassowary, C.sclateri Salvadori,1878 (sometimes C.c. sclateri), Casuarius philipi Rothschild, 1898, Casuarius unappendiculatus philipi (Rothschild, 1898) is a possible species that seems quite different, but is only known from one individual that shipped from Calcutta, and was at the London Zoo. Named for Philip Lutley Sclater, English lawyer and zoologist who studied cassowaries. Hopefully DNA testing will one day be done to determine if it was just a freak, as its preserved body still exists in the collection of eccentric banker Baron Lionel Walter Rothschild. The collection includes no fewer than 62 mounted cassowaries; he published a great monograph on the cassowary in 1900, creating a huge array of sub-species, most no longer recognised. Much of the information in this paragraph was sourced from a website by Dr Karl Shuker (well-known cryptozoologist). He mentions native stories of cassowaries being able to produce chicks without male input. Parthenogenesis is not verified but does occur in a few birds - notably the common turkey. Tommaso Adlard Salvadori recognized 10 cassowary species, including C. australis in Nouva Olanda (1882).

The common name, cassowary (spelt Cassawary by English ornithologist Francis Willughby), is thought to derive from the Malay word for cassowary, “kesuari”, (a corrupted form of the Malay “suwari”), which probably came from the Papuan “kasu” – horned, and “weri’ – head.

In 1511, the Portuguese conquered Malacca (on the Malay Peninsula), then the hub of Asian trade. Before that spices arrived in Europe via Arab traders; cassowaries were already an item of trade in the region. Malay dialects were the language of trade and diplomacy, much as Portuguese became the language of the sea for a time. Today Bhasa Indonesia, the adopted common language of Indonesia, is a Malay variant.

The first cassowary was bought to Europe in 1597 by the initial Dutch voyage to the East Indies, led by the explorer Cornelis de Houtman. It was captured in the Moluccas (on the island of Ceram, and moved via the Banda Islands, just south of Ceram - part of Indonesia) and given to the expedition by the Javanese prince of Sydajo (Sedaju, near Surabaya). This was a few days before the captain, Schellinger, was killed by the leader, and the ship ‘Amsterdam’ burnt – the cassowary was moved to another ship. It was a pet for upper society for many years, dying in 1607.

Live cassowaries were commonly taken to Europe as curiosities, so by the time Australia was settled by the British, it was a well-known bird, associated with European royalty.

In 1774, the Qing Court in China was taking an interest in the cassowary, as had previous 16th Century Ming emperors. The emperor Qianlong ordered 4 images be painted of the emo, to accompany his royal poem. One of the key artists was from Europe – Bohemian (Czech). The text of the 1670s work of Frenchman Claude Perrault was used for the inscription.

The existence of the Australian Cassowary was first recorded by William Carron, the botanist survivor of the Kennedy Expedition, in 1849. Jackey Jackey had shot one in November 1848, but the specimen was lost due to subsequent events. It was described as C. australis by Queensland Museum curator, William Sheridan Wall, brother of naturalist Thomas S. Wall who died during the expedition (1854, in newspaper). Australis meaning southern, in relation to the other cassowary species.

The authority of Wall, has previously been credited to Gould who published in 1857 and 1865, but he credited Wall.

Frederick von Mueller, in 1866 wrote to The Australian with a description (provided by Johnson) of a cassowary shot at Gowrie Creek Scrub - he suggested it be named after lawyer and cricketer George Randall Johnson, who killed it and provided it to the Sydney Museum (Johnson was visiting the Scott brothers’ Vale of Herbert station). In 1867, it was determined (from information by Kennedy botanist Carron) that this was the same as the Kennedy cassowary (C. australis), yet the curator of the Australian Museum, Johann Ludwig (Louis) Gerard Krefft, suggested a new name for the casuary, Casuarius Johnsonii. (In 1868 Mr Stone, overseer for the Scott brothers, shot another cassowary which was forwarded to London).

The related emu, Dromaius novaehollandiae (Latham, 1790), or New Holland racer, was formally described by ornithologist Dr. John Latham, as a cassowary, Casuarius Novae Hollandiae (while he called the Southern Cassowary C. emeu). The word cassowary was well known by this time; for many years the emu was called a cassowary, e.g. New Holland cassowary in Arthur Phillip's “Voyage to Botany Bay”, published in 1789. The emu was also called the Southern Cassowary, Van Diemen’s Land Cassowary, or the Cassowary of New South Wales. The word “emu” was actually a word for cassowary, and other ratites (ratite - Latin for raft - in relation to the flat breastbone, with no keel for wing muscle attachment). Emeu is an earlier spelling (eg the New Holland Cassowary was called Emeu by the settlers). In other words, emu and cassowary were both words used to describe cassowaries; over time the word came to settle on just our Australian Emu.

Emu is said to have come from an Arabic word for large bird, which was later used by Portuguese explorers (ema). Probably the natives adopted the Portuguese word, especially those involved in trade. NSW surgeon and biologist Dr George Bennett formally described the dwarf cassowary - John Gould named it in his honour, C. bennetti. Bennett described the emu as the New Holland Emeu — “a name formerly applied by the early Portuguese navigators to a great bird of Malacca - discovered at Banda, one of the Moluccas, where the natives named it emu or emeu”. (The Bird World, 1878). Also spelt eme, and emia.

The South American rhea, another ratite, was called the American Emeu, and the American Ostrich.

Emus have no helmet, their head is feathered, their neck has no caruncles (fleshy naked outgrowths), and their inner toes bear an ordinary claw, not elongated as in the cassowary.

Earl of Derby, Dr Bennett left Australia in 1859 on the ship SS Emeu (Steam liner 1854, reduced to sail 1876, foundered 1880, salvaged 1898). He was an early conservationist and may be responsible for the fact that Australia still has an abundance of wildlife.

Dr John Latham was a leading British naturalist, called the grandfather of Australian ornithology, who described many Australian birds. He is famous for describing the black swan, a real shock for European naturalists. He helped start the Linnean Society, but did not adopt its binomial naming system till his Index Ornithologicus, so missed out being credited as the author of many species he described earlier but without a proper scientific name.

Southern Cassowary Casuarius casuarius Scientific Synonyms

1758 Struthio casuarius - Linnaeus
1790 Casuarius emeu - John Latham

Naming conventions make Linnaeus the primary author as he published earlier, while correcting his use of the Ostrich genus (struthio is Latin for ostrich; thought to derive from Greek sparrow and camel). At that time, only the Cassowary of Java (Southern Cassowary) and the Cassowary of NSW (the emu) were known.

1790 Casuarius galeatus (helmeted) – French naturalist, Abbé Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre (studied Victor of Aveyron (feral child found living in woods). Also, English biologist Dr George Kearsley Shaw 1796, and French ornithologist Louis (Jean) Pierre Vieillot, about 1820, (who continued the work of Bonnaterre, and described the emu genus, Dromaius).
1790 Casuarius emeu - Latham used the common name Galeated Cassowary. Also used by French ornithologist René Primevère Lesson, about 1830, for the Cassowary of Java.
1792 Shaw describes the Australian Emu as Casuarius australis.
1811 Struthio casuarius - German zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger,
1819 Casuarius indicus – F S Voigt uses (also Dr JJ Kaup in 1836) from the East Indies.
1820 Casuarius orientalis – German zoologist, Heinrich Kuhl. Also, German naturalist, Dr Salomon Műller in 1841.

1842 Hippalectryo indicus - German zoologist, Constantin Wilhelm Lambert Gloger (Indian horse rooster - a mythical Greek hybrid animal). Gloger’s rule - that says warm humid races have darker feathers.
1857 C. australis (non Shaw) - English ornithologist John Gould to show he was NOT describing the Australian Emu, given that same species name by Shaw.
1915 Casuarius casuarius – Rothschild (Common or Ceram Cassowary)

Australian Cassowary Casuarius casuarius johnsonii Scientific Synonyms

1849 Carron mentions shooting of cassowary in Far North Queensland, 1848.
1854 Wall puts description of this cassowary in newspaper, Sydney Illustrated News (including woodcuts based on rough sketches of his dead brother).
1857 Casuarius australis – Gould in presenting the above description to the Zoological Society of London says Wall named it C. australis. Gould published this name again in 1865.
1866 Johnson shoots cassowary near Ingham. F. Mueller writes to newspaper suggesting cassowary be named after Johnson December 1866.
1867 Casuarius Johnsonii – Krefft. Mueller’s article is read to Zoological Society of London by Sclater, Feb 1867; also in Feb, Gerard Krefft, of Australian Museum publishes a letter in the Sydney Morning Herald, announcing a new species. Bennett reads to the Society a letter, which includes an account by Carron saying the two cassowaries are the same, May 1867.
1867 Casuarius Johnsoni – Krefft. In the same meeting May 1867, renames the cassowary. (Sometimes misspelled Johnstonii).
1868 In June, Sclater shows the skin of second Ingham cassowary to Zoo. Society, calling it C. australis.
1915 Casuarius casuarius hamiltoni – by Gregory Macalister Mathews, a prominent Australian ornithologist (though doing most of his work while a man of leisure in the UK). Alexander Greenlaw Hamilton being a NSW naturalist (former president of the Linnean Society of New South Wales).
1915 Casuarius casuarius australis Wall, subspecies level by Rothschild.

The genus Casuarius was described by French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson, in 1760. Other spellings include Casearius, Casoaris, Casoarius, Cassowara, Cassuarius. Other synonyms include Hippalectryo, Cela (Greek racehorse), Rhea (Greek ground, as flightless), Chelarga (Greek fast); Oxyporus (Oxyporus is fungal genus; ancient Greek sharp helmet), Thrasys (Greek bold, daring).

Taxonomists can be splitters or clumpers – all the ratites can be put in the one Order Struthioniformes (Vigors, 1825); or each ratite group is given its own order, with cassowaries (or emus and cassowaries) being in the order Casuariiformes (Sclater, 1880) Forbes, 1884.

Previous order names include order Ratitae, Casuarii, Palaeognathae and order Megistanes. Paleognath from the ancient Greek for "old jaws" in reference to the palate - described as more primitive and reptilian than in other birds. The Megistanes were nobles making up the legislature of the Parthian empire - having Persian/Greek influence (Turkey to Iran; around the time of Christ).
Similarly, families can be clumped or split, Casuariidae (Kaup, 1847) being the usual cassowary family, which often includes the emu.

Casuarina L. is the Sheoak genus of trees. The name is derived from the Malay word for the cassowary, kasuari, alluding to the similarities between the bird's feathers and the plant's foliage.

(The tree is called rhu in current standard Malay).

Not surprisingly, the cassowary was, and is, a very Important bird to the indigenous people of Australia.

Wet Tropics Management Authority

Gumbulgan (Ngadjon, Jirrbal, Mamu) - gumbagan (Ngadjan glossary), gumbulgan (Huxley), kumbokan (Roth 1890), koom-bo-găn (Roth 1898), kum-bo-gan (Roth 1898, also emu), gumbugan (Lake Eacham sign), coom-bungun (Jungle brochure), Goombijan (Meston 1924), kum-bo-gan (Ngai-ku-ngo Roth 1898)
Gunduy(Djiru, Banjin, Kuku Yalanji) - cun-joey (O'Leary … also thunder – reference to cassowary vocalization?), gunduy (Jirrbal Dixon), gunduy (Girringun), gundoy (Toohey), gunduy (Pedley), gunduy (Jirrbal at Tully), quandoi (Jirrbal at Ravenshoe 1957)
Gindaja Keendadja (Meston 1924), ghindaga (Babinda)
Also:
Dundulu (Girramay - Irvine - Cardwell)
Kinkiree (Bandjin/Girramay – Johnstone)
Bomba, Boom-boom (Meston) One clan on Mulgrave had cassowary totem group.
Yun Yun Johnston's cassowary, The Sunlit Land
Gulbanban Australian Aboriginal Mythology
Jurrga-n – noise of cassowary

No known mother-in-law language words, which are usually more general terms. There is a reference to it being known to locals as the black emu. Mother-in-law language was a more formal respectful language for use with certain members of the tribe, having an almost completely different vocabulary.