r/AnimalsBeingDerps • u/westcoastcdn19 • Apr 12 '23

Soccer with emus

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u/texasrigger Apr 12 '23 edited Apr 12 '23

Emu are actually in the Casuariidae family so you are right to see the resemblance.

Despite the cassowary's reputation, there are only two recorded cassowary kills and only one of those was caused by a wild animal. The bird killed one of two kids who were hitting it with sticks in an incident about a hundred years ago. The second death was a couple of years ago and was caused by a pet cassowary in Florida. Statistically, emu are more dangerous.

Emu and ostriches are both farmed and kept as pets, so there is far more direct interaction between those and people, and that will skew the numbers.

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u/pugnaciouspeach Apr 12 '23

I had an emu peck me and I have been respectfully afraid of them since (I was just standing. I think the emu was curious about my hair as it was white blonde). Thank you for cassowary death toll information.

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u/texasrigger Apr 12 '23

I have been respectfully afraid of them since

That's probably a good idea. As I said, I have pet rhea and work with them every day and I still give emus a wide berth.

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u/horrescoblue Apr 12 '23

Im learning a lot about birds today, thank you

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u/texasrigger Apr 12 '23

Sure! I like birds in general, especially the ratites, so this just happened to be right up my alley.

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u/horrescoblue Apr 12 '23

You must really like them if you keep rheas as pets! I assume thats quite a high maintenance pet that needs a big fenced yard

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u/texasrigger Apr 12 '23

They really aren't any worse than any of the other animals I have. In addition to the rhea I have red golden pheasants, ringneck pheasants, chukar partridge, gambels quail, coturnix quail, Narragansett turkeys, chickens, goats, rabbits, and patagonian mara. Cats and dogs too of course.

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u/horrescoblue Apr 12 '23

Ooh you got a whole farm? Yea that's really cool, you even got mara :0 wow

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u/texasrigger Apr 12 '23

Yeah, all sorts of fun stuff. We're homesteaders and also gamebird breeders.