In November, 700 Intercontinental Weapons Were Launched Against the USA?

American crows on the other hand, you can befriend. Then they'll guard your car and bring you shinies.

 

They sound cool. I know lots of corvidae are extremely intelligent.

 

Does he seriously think he can defend himself with just a massive chunk of steel?

 

At least my picture was not photo shopped

 

Are you accusing the Failing New York Times of photoshopping?

 

The shadow was done well. But that foot:

 

Isn't that just sunk in soft sand?

 

I believe that you believe that such a photo shoot could be arranged with bad bird #1, and that three disembowelment candidates would lay down for it.

 

What's wrong with the foot?

 

Sigh. All right youse guys, believe that it really happened. And 'cassie the tame cassowary' walked back to the truck, hopped in, and drove away.

But if that lulls you into indifference when you meet one, and you lay down and read a newspaper, I am not responsible for re-installing your intestines.

Available as pets, to my surprise:

Cassowary for Sale

I'll not be bidding against you.

 

My suspicion is that it was not arranged, and that the cassowary and the sunbathers were relatively unaware of each other. As long as the sunbathers didn't move, they'd have been fine. Or they'd be in a later photo, with fewer bowels than in this first one.

 

So, tourists at Etty Bay, doing exactly as they'd been told not to?

Forget the bird; look at the people. They could pose like that and not move?

Finally cassie's legs cast shadows in different directions. May I go do something else now?

 

Gosh, yes.

You'd be amazed at how many tourists (disproportionately Germans) in Far North Queensland and the Northern Territory get eaten by crocodiles after doing exactly what they've been told not to do.

Might that be because the legs are pointing in different directions?

Only after you've written a strongly-worded letter to the NYT.

 

I'd write the second letter. You'd write the first to

Etty Bay Cassowaries - Where and How to Spot Wild Cassowaries near Cairns in 2023 – We Seek Travel Blog

And seek their opinion on veracity of photo. Please mention that you know Cassowaries walk this beach (and probably no others) early morning and late afternoon (different sun angles than as pictured). That Cassowaries being fruit eaters seem likely to notice tourists' colorful accessories. Even if they fail to notice people at such close range. Feel free to mention that an irritating person you know finds this photo to present a dangerously misleading view of Cassowary-human interactions.

With their response I'll be better posed to write a nastygram to NYT.

Perhaps I'll end up beating my second retreat in this very thread. And you can go safely lay on Etty Bay beach. If you're feeling especially indestructible, bring colorful fruits with ye.

 

I shall do so immediately.

Honestly, at Etty Bay beach, even if it is riddled with cassowaries, they wouldn't even make the top four of things likely to kill or maim you.

 

Box jellies there, or only sharks? On a beach there'd be no drop bears.

 

Don't worry about the sharks. The crocs ate all the sharks.

Yes, lots of box jellies - they're called bluebottles here.

And the stonefish.

And the drop bears can fling themselves onto the beach in a big arc. Probably.

 

Wikipedia and Guinness both say there have been only two confirmed human deaths caused by cassowaries in the past century---in 1926 in Australia and in 2019 in Florida. Neither source denies that they're dangerous if provoked.

 

Yeah, I bet they don't acknowledge all the drop bear deaths either.