These birds are named ‘world’s most dangerous’. But are these stunningly beautiful creatures really that bad?

I have never been on first-name terms with a dinosaur descendant, terrified of a bird, or seen a real-life cassowary. At Kyabram Fauna Park I manage to do all these things at once during a wildlife encounter at the latest addition to Zoos Victoria portfolio of parks.

On the encounter, keeper Elice Duncan swings open a metal-grate window to an enclosure and before you can say “life finds a way”, Adelaide the cassowary has popped her head up ready for lunch. Cassowaries get a bad rap as “the world’s most dangerous bird”, and Adelaide sports an imposing casque, the shark-fin-shaped collection of keratin that sits on top of her head like a punk quiff. Duncan puts us quickly at ease, however, as she tells us that there have been only two recorded human deaths by cassowary in the last century, and one was overseas.

Up close, Adelaide is stunningly beautiful with long lashes over huge brown eyes, her face and neck a brilliant blue. She has pretty good manners too, lightly pecking the cherry tomatoes from a pair of tongs – even as sweet as she is, you wouldn’t want to bet your fingers on it.

You become on first-name terms with a lot of the animals at Kyabram Fauna Park, from Cleo the black-headed python, who we find slithering on the grass at the entrance as part of a regular keeper talk, to Naughty the cockatoo, who we are warned is naughty in both name and nature. When we meet her, she is subdued but we learn later she may be feeling a bit chastened after stealing a visitor’s driver’s licence the previous day. Visiting Kyabram is a more intimate experience than the rest of Zoos Victoria portfolio, despite being home to more than 600 animals, and it aims to stay that way.

Lachlan Gordon, Kyabram Fauna Park director, says: “We have been, and will remain, a community wildlife park, and we pride ourselves on those personalised experiences so that when people come here they feel relaxed walking around, they feel like they can learn at their own pace. It is a much slower pace and that is something that we want to retain.”

He says the other key point of difference is that the park is two-thirds wetlands.

“We have a 55-hectare site and the wetlands are 33 hectares of that,” he says. “We have a number of threatened species that migrate and utilise those wetlands every year, so that is quite special. Two key species are the broad shell turtle that is endangered in Victoria and the magpie goose, and both of them rely heavily on our wetlands system.”

The park has planted more than 7000 trees on the site to attract species that are on the brink and has been part of conservation programs locally since 1979. Keeping this wetland area safe is part of the ethos of Zoos Victoria, which has 27 priority native species on its threatened species list.