Moving out of home can be tough.
It's arguably even tougher when you're an endangered species heading into the far north Queensland rainforest.
But that's the challenge for three cassowary chicks set for release on Friday after a year in the world's only cassowary rehabilitation centre.
Two of them are brothers who were found wandering alone through a south Mission Beach backyard at just one month old.
The other - a girl affectionately known as "Squirt" - was hit by a car and fractured her spine.
Garners Beach Cassowary Rehabilitation Centre vet Dr Graham Lauridsen said Squirt was not expected to survive but made a miraculous recovery.
So much so, he says the trio now all run around together doing "karate kicks".
"A lot of the trees have had all the bark ripped down low because they practise their kicks," Dr Lauridsen told AAP.
"They tear around playing hide and seek."
The movements of the three Garners chicks will be monitored by a tracking device connected to the birds.
The Garners Beach centre had been facing closure but was saved by interim government funding following a public outcry earlier this year.
The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection is looking for a new organisation to manage the centre.
A 2014 survey put the number of cassowaries living in the Wet Tropics at more than 4000.
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