Oh! If I did read that the male raised the chicks, I don't remember. I do remember being told (and reading?) that one must never cut the chicks off from adult (I thought female) because they can be aggressive and could disembowel people with their big 'toe'. I guess that wasn't true.
I did realize you were probably not talking Mission Beach since your location says Cairns. I just kept returning to Mission Beach because we were moored in Townsville for a cyclone season and I thought MB was the closest place for me to have a realistic chance. The first time, my husband went with me and we walked in the rain forest while it was raining. We put up an umbrella at one point but the closeness of the trees made that worthless and we had about a million mozzies under the umbrella in minutes! We were sweating like crazy under our raincoats and after a time, my husband said he was leaving and going back to the room. I stuck it out for a little longer before giving up. I got back to the room and he was sitting on the bed with his feet on the floor. He had bloody toilet paper stuck between his toes. I said, "My God, what happened?"
"Leeches"
"Leeches? Where are they?"
"Flushed down the toilet."
"Damn, I wanted to see them!"
If looks could kill.
He didn't go with me for more Cassowary searches.3
I was very happy to finally see one strolling through a cut cane field just outside of town.
