World's Most Dangerous Bird Lays Some Long-Awaited Eggs

Australia's Adelaide Zoo has scored a rare win in cassowary matchmaking, and the evidence is hard to miss: two electric-green eggs. Martina, a 10-year-old southern cassowary, has laid the zoo's first egg in 34 years, reports the New York Times, with a possible third on the way. Fewer than 10 cassowary chicks have hatched at Australian zoos in the past decade, making the development a conservation bright spot for the threatened species, of which only about 4,500 remain in the wild.

The hulking, solitary birds—often labeled the world's most dangerous—require carefully managed introductions. Director Chad Crittle likened pairing Martina with male cassowary Jeffrey to online dating, "where it might look like everything lines up really well. We like the same things and you might like the same food, but when you actually meet, it doesn't always work." Whether the neon eggs are even fertilized isn't yet known, per a zoo news release. Jeffrey will handle incubation for about 50 days while keepers mostly maintain their distance.