Cassowary vs Emu: The Surprising Origins of Their Bird Names

Why are birds named what they’re named?

In this mini episode of the Bird Name Game series from Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss explores the fascinating naming history behind two giant flightless birds that look like they walked straight out of the dinosaur era: cassowaries and emus.

Both birds are massive, powerful, and deeply tied to the evolutionary story of modern birds—but their names come from very different linguistic journeys.

Cassowaries, found in the tropical forests of New Guinea and northern Australia, are famous for their bright blue necks, dagger-like claws, and the mysterious helmet-like casque on their heads. Their name likely comes from Southeast Asian languages describing the bird’s distinctive “horned head.”

Emus, the shaggy runners of the Australian outback, inherited a name that originally referred to many large flightless birds—including ostriches and cassowaries. Early European explorers often confused these giant birds, and for a time emus were even called “New Holland cassowaries.”

In this episode we explore:

• Why cassowaries are sometimes called the most dangerous bird in the world
• What the mysterious cassowary casque might be used for
• How early explorers confused emus, ostriches, and cassowaries
• Why the word “emu” once referred to multiple species of giant birds
• How language, exploration, and first impressions shaped bird names

If you love birding, ornithology, wildlife science, or natural history, the Bird Name Game series reveals how the names of birds tell stories about exploration, language, and the way humans first encountered the natural world.

Subscribe for more episodes of Wildly Curious, where science, nature, and curiosity collide.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Alright, guys, this is another mini episode of the bird name game. And I'm gonna talk about two of these birds. One of, well, let's say both of which kind of make it look like they walked right out of the dinosaur era. One of my favorites, and I know you've already all heard me talk about it before. But sorry, I'm doing it. You know what? No, I'm not sorry. I'm gonna talk about this bird because it is one of my favorites, and I do think it's one of the cooler birds. It's tall, it's powerful, and has a bright blue neck and head, dagger-like caws, and a strange helmet on its head. The Cassawary. And it's often described as one of the most dangerous birds in the world. Here's the funny thing: the other bird that I'm gonna be talking about is the emu. And for a long time, people couldn't quite decide what to call a castaweri, and so they just kept swapping the names back and forth. So let's put all that aside for right now and let's jump right into the cassawary. So cassawaris live in the tropical forests of New Guinea and Northern Australia, and there are three subspecies in total. They're large flightless birds, thank god they don't fly, related to emus and ostriches, and they can stand around five to six feet tall, which is terrifyingly awesome. But what makes them stand out is that the cask, right? That's that helmet structure on top of their heads. Scientists still debate exactly what it's for. There are actually like scientists that talk about do dinosaurs have these things for the same purpose? It might help them just simply push through dense forests, amplify their deep booming calls, which if you haven't heard a castary call, look it up on YouTube or something. It's crazy. But it also may just signal dominance to other castaries. Whatever the purpose, it definitely makes them look like they're wearing prehistoric armor. The name Cassowary actually entered European languages in the early 1600s, likely through Dutch traders. But the word itself comes from Southeast Asia, which would make sense, specifically from the Malay word Cassowary, K-A-S-U-A-R-I. And that name may go back even further to Papuan languages, combining two words that roughly translate into horned head, which makes sense when you look at the cask sitting on top of the bird's skull. So the Casware's name is basically describing the most obvious feature people have noticed the bird with the horned head. But things got confusing, of course, when Europeans started encountering the giant birds. So let's then talk about emus and how they got confused. So emus are also another large flightless bird, and these ones live all across Australia. They can reach nearly six feet tall, run incredibly fast, and have powerful legs built for covering huge distances across open landscapes. If Castaways look like armed forest warriors, I guess, emus look more like a shaggy runner of the Australian Outback. But the name Emu has a surprisingly complicated history. At first, the word wasn't even used for emus at all. Early Portuguese explorers used the term ema as a kind of general name for large flightless birds, like the rays, the cassowary ostriches. Some linguists think that the word ultimately traced back to the Arabic name for the ostrich. So originally, ema was basically shorthand for big, weird, flightless bird. When Europeans eventually reached Australia in the late 1700s and encountered the bird that we now call the emu, they weren't entirely sure what they were even looking at. Some early observers thought that it might be a type of ostrich, others thought that it was was related to the castawary. In fact, one early name for the emu was New Holland Cassawary. And eventually the name, the shorter name of it, rather than calling them look at the new Holland Cassawary, the name Emu just stuck. But for a while there, these giant birds were all tangled up in the same naming confusion, just going back and forth. If you saw a tall bird, it was Ema. And so that's just kind of what it was. So yeah, that wraps up today's episode. Cassawar's name likely comes from Southeast Asian languages, probably basically describing its horn head, while the emu inherited a name that originally referred to all kinds of giant flightless birds long before Europeans even realized Australia had its own unique species. Which is a good reminder that when explorers first encountered these animals, they were often guessing. Sometimes they guessed right, and sometimes they just said, mmm, looks like that other kind of big bird that we saw over there, and the name stuck. Alright, guys, Castawares and Emu's. That wraps up today's episode. Next week, Laura's gonna do one more episode, and then we're gonna kick off season 14. So make sure you guys are following using on all social media. Go support us on Patreon if you can. That really helps us to keep this going. So make sure you go follow us on social media, and until next week.