“Cassowaries are large, flightless birds related to emus and (more distantly) to ostriches, rheas, and kiwis”, writes Olivia Judson in the September issue of National Geographic magazine. How large? People-size: Adult males stand well over five foot five and top 110 pounds. Females are even taller, and can weigh more than 160 pounds. Dangerous when roused, they’re shy and peaceable when left alone. But even birds this big and tough are prey to habitat loss. The dense New Guinea and Australia rain forests where they live have dwindled. Today cassowaries might number 1,500 to 2,000. And because they help shape those same forests – by moving seeds from one place to another – “if they vanish”, Judson writes, “the structure of the forest would gradually change” too. (Photo by Christian Ziegler/National Geographic)

Liu Chunxia, a supporter of Xu Zhiyong, one of China's most prominent rights advocates, is detained by policemen while she gathers with other supporters nearby a court where Xu's trial is being held in Beijing January 22, 2014. When dozens of activists unfurled banners across the country last March and April calling for officials to disclose their assets, they did so at the urging of one of China's most prominent rights advocates, Xu Zhiyong. Xu, 40, stands trial on Wednesday on a charge of “gathering a crowd to disturb public order” punishable by up to five years in prison. His case will almost certainly spark fresh criticism from Western governments over Beijing's crackdown on dissent. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

An elephant “kisses” a visitor during a show at an elephant training school in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province, April 18, 2015. Some 16 elephants live at the school and give four 30-minute performances everyday for visitors. (Photo by Wong Campion/Reuters)

A man works on a small replica of the Iron Man armor next to a homemade replica of the “Hulkbuster” Iron Man armour from the movie “Avengers: Age of Ultron”, at an underground parking lot in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China, May 12, 2015. The 3.4-metre-tall replica is made of over 100 fiber-reinforced plastic components. It took Xing and his friends two months to put them together after watching the trailer of the movie in March, local media reported. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Miss Costa Rica Maria Fernanda Rodriguez Ávila competes in the evening gown competition during the preliminary round of the 71st Miss Universe Beauty Pageant in New Orleans, Wednesday, January 11, 2023. (Photo by Gerald Herbert/AP Photo)

Members of the Mayossa Folk Dance Group pour water on young women in Kiskunmajsa, some 140 kms southeast of Budapest, Hungary, Monday, April 2, 2018. According to a several hundred years old tradition of Hungarian villages young men pour water on young women who in exchange present their sprinklers with beautifully colored eggs on Easter Monday. (Photo by Sandor Ujvari/MTI via AP Photo)

A police officer sings as a hearse drives along a street as part of a campaign sponsored by the Colombian police and a funerary home to raise awareness during the new coronavirus pandemic in Envigado, Antioquia, Colombia, on April 1, 2020. More than 20,000 cases of COVID-19 were registered in Latin America and the Caribbean by Wednesday, according to an AFP tally using information provided by national health authorities and the World Health Organization. (Photo by Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP Photo)

A tourist gets an “Art Hug” from a disinfected costumed man outside the reopened Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Monday, June 1, 2020. The government takes a major step to relax the coronavirus lockdown, with bars, restaurants, cinemas and museums reopening under strict conditions. (Photo by Peter Dejong/AP Photo)