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or growl, and herbivorous dinosaurs to moan or bay. They are almost never depic-
tedemittinglow-frequencyboomsjustwithinthehearingrangeofhumans.Yetthat
was exactly the voice used by the theropod that emerged from the rainforest that
morning onto the trail and only about twenty meters behind me.
Shewasabeauty.Tallandresplendentwithbrightredandbluepatchesaround
her head and a mass of black feathers covering her torso, she moved with firm in-
tention, exuding confidence. This was her rainforest, or at least her part of it. She
let out another boom, which connected the sound to its producer and confirmed my
previous feelings of trepidation.
It was then that I realized one of my students—Heather—was standing on
the footbridge, blissfully oblivious that a dinosaur was behind her. I had already
raisedmydigitalcameratotakeaphotoofthecassowaryandtheinstantlyreplayed
viewscreen included Heather in the foreground, wearing a big grin as she marveled
at her surroundings, but with the cassowary in the background. Feeling a sense of
responsibility, but while also wondering how many other professors have to worry
about a theropod walking into their classrooms and confronting their students, I
used an urgent stage-voice whisper to warn her.
“Heather, there's a cassowary behind you!”
She smiled and replied, oh-so-cheerfully, “Are you joking?” (Her question re-
flected how, during the previous weeks of the program, I had earned a reputation
among the students as a prankster. I have no idea how this happened.)
“No!” I said with what I hoped was enough gravitas to change her mood.
My tone must have worked, because Heather turned to look over her left
shoulder and saw that, yes, indeed, there was a large adult cassowary walking to-
ward her. Quite sensibly, she froze in place, and her expression changed according
to this newly perceived situation, which I dutifully recorded by taking another
photo.Youhavetoadmit,howeverperilousthemomentmighthavefeltatthetime,
“Before Cassowary Awareness” and “After Cassowary Awareness” photos might
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