Cassowary crossing — how Australia is tackling its roadkill crisis
Now scientists are racing against time to save the bird's dwindling numbers from a roadkill crisis.
Cassowaries draw so many tourists to Australia's north that some estimate their value to the local economy at A$1 million (£488,000) per bird — meaning the fatal running-over of 24 of them last year was costly in more ways than one.
A trial using artificial intelligence to alert drivers to the birds, which can grow to 6ft 2in (1.9m) tall, has reduced the number of deaths on a Far North Queensland road by more than a third.
Its success has raised hopes the technology can be adapted to recognise other species and cut Australia's annual roadkill death toll, which is estimated at ten million and believed to be the world's highest in relation to the human population.
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