Cassowaries live in the thick rainforests of Papua New Guinea and northern Australia. They walk on big three-toed feet, and each foot has a long sharp middle claw. They mostly use those feet to scratch the ground for fallen fruit. Cassowaries love fruit - they eat hundreds of different kinds.
The tall helmet on top of a cassowary's head is hollow and made of the same stuff as your fingernails. Scientists think it helps the cassowary push through thick rainforest without scratching its head, and may also help it cool down. Each cassowary's casque has a slightly different shape, like a hat just for that bird.
Cassowaries are very important to the forest. They eat fruit, walk for kilometres, and then leave the seeds behind in their droppings - often far from the parent tree. Some big rainforest trees only sprout if their seeds have travelled through a cassowary first. Without cassowaries, parts of the forest would slowly disappear.
Cassowary dads do most of the parenting. The mother lays the eggs and then leaves. The father sits on the eggs for nearly two months without eating much, and then looks after the stripy brown chicks for almost a year. He teaches them which fruits are safe to eat and how to find them.