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There is no single answer to this puzzle. Dinosaurs dominated the planet for around 179 million years and during that time, evolved into an enormous array of different shapes and sizes. Some were tiny, like the diminutive Albinykus, which weighed under a kilogram (2.2lbs) and was probably less than 2ft (60cm) long. Others were among the biggest animals to have ever lived on land, such as the titanosaur Patagotitan mayorum, which may have weighed up to 72 tonnes. They ran on two legs, or plodded on four. And along with these diverse body shapes, they would have produced an equally...

The endangered southern cassowary, a giant flightless bird native to Australia and New Guinea, was spotted by onlookers on Oct. 31 along the shores of Bingil Bay in the Australian state of Queensland, according to the local government. Beachgoers in Australia last month initially thought it was a turtle or a shark’s dorsal fin in the ocean. But upon closer inspection, they were stunned to see a cassowary – sometimes dubbed "the world’s most dangerous bird" – emerge from the ocean and shake itself off. The endangered southern cassowary, a giant flightless bird native to Australia and New Guinea, was...

The southern cassowary is an enormous, flightless bird native to the forests of New Guinea and Northern Australia...While one should certainly be wary around a cassowary and its dagger-like claws today, a new study found that humans may have raised the territorial, aggressive birds 18,000 years ago in New Guinea..."This behavior that we are seeing is coming thousands of years before the domestication of the chicken," says study author Kristina Douglass, a Penn State archaeologist, in a statement. "And this is not some small fowl, it is a huge, ornery, flightless bird that can eviscerate you. Most likely the dwarf...

A Florida wildlife breeder was killed by one of his birds almost two weeks ago—and now that bird is going up for auction. More than 100 exotic animals from the estate of Marvin Hajos are being sold off after the 75-year-old man was fatally attacked by a 6-foot-tall cassowary at his Alachua County farm. The flightless birds are often called the "world's most dangerous bird" thanks to their "dagger-like" claws that can grow up to 5 inches long. Hajos fell down between two cassowary cages on April 12 and was attacked through the fence by at least one of the...

ALACHUA, Fla. (AP) — A large, flightless bird native to Australia and New Guinea attacked and killed its owner when the man fell on his property in Florida, authorities said Saturday. The Alachua County Fire Rescue Department told the Gainesville Sun that a cassowary killed the man Friday on the property near Gainesville, likely using its long claws. The victim, whose name was not released, was apparently breeding the birds, state wildlife officials said.

The large, flightless birds, with dagger-like claws, are considered the world’s most dangerous. “He was doing what he loved,” she said, adding that she did not want to talk anymore. "The cassowary can slice open any predator or potential threat with a single swift kick. Powerful legs help the cassowary run up to 31 miles per hour (50 kilometers per hour) through the dense forest underbrush.” “It looks like it was accidental. My understanding is that the gentleman was in the vicinity of the bird and at some point fell. When he fell, he was attacked,”