Cairns, pronounced Canes, boasts two UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Since I am on the outs with UNESCO World Heritage anything, I only toss them a reference before moving on. There is an impressive and expensive array of new tourist infrastructure in Cairns. The two World Heritage tourist draws are the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest. Having researched outings to the Reef, we chose a nice safe Aquarium visit: most of the sights and no water up the nose. The saltwater up the nose we can get at home.
Large flightless birds are an Aussie specialty.
The Aquarium signs told us that a few species of palm only reproduce when the fruit is passed through the Cassowary digestive tract. But a little Google fact-checking https://www.daintreecassowary.org.au/cassowary-foods disproves this rumor. I love it that scientists are employed to sift through Cassowary droppings. “How was work today, Darling?” “Oh, you know, you’ll never guess what I found in Cassowary poo today!”
The Cassowary is also one more resin sculpture in a long lineage. Here’s the Aquarium Cassowary and one duded up Cassowary.
The Great Barrier Reef is so massive it is visible from space. Its denizens are also extra large, compared to the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary’s: giant clams, massive fish, anemones like Papa-San chairs.
The fish were well-organized and well cared for. We shared the space with two local mums with prams and toddlers careering about. It reminded me how my brother liked to take his children to Steinhart Aquarium to look at the fish. It was a safe place to practice being a biped.
Despised Lionfish have no natural predator and are a pesty invasive species off the Florida coast. Florida Fish and Game Department regularly offers a bounty on Lionfish, but the USDA says not to eat them, as they are full of ciguatoxins. Lionfish dominate the food chain without challenge, but at least you can’t say the other fish voted Lionfish in as apex predator.
Here’s a familiar face from the Marianis Trench:
JohnandJanet'sJourney 
I like the fish! My friend Sylvia is trying to convince me to get into scuba diving, and I imagine the Great Barrier Reef is a great place to do that! I, however, am trying to limit my expensive and non-local hobbies to kid-friendly ones, at least. And I’m grateful to live in a lionfish-free place.
Love,
Shosh
PS: Lionfish is a good animal for our family’s animals-in-other-animals name game, where we just go around saying the names of animals that have other animals in their name until someone gives up. I bet you found other examples in the aquarium too!
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Aquariums (aquaria?) are great like that! All the fish; none of the salt water exposure.
Poking through cassowary poop seems like an excellent, noninvasive form of science. I’m reading a book about, among other things, the role of whale poop in redistributing marine nutrients.
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