“And this is not some small fowl, it is a huge, ornery, flightless bird that can eviscerate you. Most likely the dwarf variety that weighs 20 kilos (44 pounds).”
I was thinking the Dodo Bird. One of them damn near took down the plane that Fred was taking flying lessons in.
From the look of these, Fred could have been riding on the back of one for the flying lesson.
Cassowaries are definitely ornery birds, and there are a few cases of them actually killing a person by slicing them open. More often they take out pets or merely wound people.
Imagine being in a jungle and a bird the size of an ostrich decides it just doesn’t like you and instead of running as ostriches are prone to do, charges out of the brush, leaps into the air, and tries to slash you with its claw.
The female can get to be about 6.5 feet tall and 130 lbs.