The cassowary (Casuarius casuarius), a large flightless bird that can grow to be the size of an average person and weigh almost 50 kg, lives deep in the tropical forests of northeastern Australia and New Guinea.
Credit: Wikimedia
CHICAGO: Australians are using their phones to help scientists track the movements and behavior of one of the area's shyest and most threatened birds, the cassowary.
Researchers have created a website where people can upload images and coordinates of the birds from their iPhones or GPS-enabled smart phones to Google Maps.
Scientists hope that, by looking at the movement patterns and behaviors of local cassowary populations in urban areas, they'll get a better idea of how to save them.
Birds in critical danger
"They are in critical danger, so I believe this [website] will encourage the public to aid in conservation," said Hamish Campbell, from the University of Queensland, the lead researcher on the project. "The use of the iPhone makes it easy for the public to participate and log data."
The new website directs users to a form, where they put in the name of the road or area where they saw the cassowary, GPS coordinates, the direction the bird was headed, and the time and date of the sighting.
"I anticipate that we'll get hundreds of participants," said Campbell. "And we hope to encourage schools and community groups."
The cassowary (Casuarius casuarius), a large flightless bird that can grow to be the size of an average person and weigh almost 50 kg, lives deep in the tropical forests of northeastern Australia and New Guinea.
Large, shy flightless bird
Not much is known about the cassowary because it is very shy, but despite its desire to hide, it has increasingly been driven into urban areas as its habitat has been destroyed.
"The cassowary is an iconic animal and really spectacular to observe in the wild," said Campbell. And it is this beauty that scientists hope will inspire people to participate in tracking them.
"This is part of a growing approach worldwide," said Steve Beissinger, a biologist at the University of California, Berkeley.
Crowdsourcing research
"Citizen scientists have made important contributions to continental-wide monitoring of bird and amphibian populations in North America."
Such studies can also run indefinitely, sometimes decades, said Campbell: "A bird spotting project on garden birds in the UK has been running for 30 years."
Douglas Warrick, a biologist at Oregon State University in Corvallis, is impressed with the way such studies engage the public. "When you see one of these animals, and log it, [it] becomes yours. Owners tend to be better stewards."
Beissinger couldn't agree more: "The cassowary project looks like another great opportunity."
