“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)

A woman carries her cat as she walks near Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi railway station in Kyiv in the morning of February 24, 2022. Air raid sirens rang out in downtown Kyiv today as cities across Ukraine were hit with what Ukrainian officials said were Russian missile strikes and artillery. (Photo by Daniel Leal/AFP Photo)

A man passes by an unfinished street art graffiti made in a stairway by French street artists Zag and Sia in Paris on March 1, 2016. The two artists drew inspiration from famous “Liberty Leading the People” (La Liberte guidant le peuple) painting by French Eugene Delacroix commemorating the July Revolution of 1830 and viewed as a symbol of the French Republic. (Photo by Joel Saget/AFP Photo)

An Indian Sikh Nihang, or warrior, performs Gatka martial arts skills during a procession at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on January 6, 2014, as part of birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Gobind Singh. The birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh guru, is marked on January 6. (Photo by Narinder Nanu/AFP Photo)

A woman walks behind the installation “Wandering boy is forever attractive” (1985) by Tetsumi Kudo during the press preview at the exhibition “Tetsumi Kudo – Retrospective” in the Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany, Friday, September 23, 2016. The exhibition offers an in-depth, comprehensive view of works by the Japanese artist Kudo. It starts on Sept. 25, 2016 and lasts until Jan. 1, 2017. (Photo by Jens Meyer/AP Photo)

The Hubble Space Telescope is shown following its release from the space shuttle Discovery Wednesday, February 19, 1997. The Hubble Space Telescope, one of NASA'S crowning glories, marks its 25th anniversary on Friday, April 24, 2015. With more than 1 million observations, including those of the farthest and oldest galaxies ever beholden by humanity, no man-made satellite has touched as many minds or hearts as Hubble. (Photo by AP Photo/NASA)

New York City policemen tangled with demonstrators at a subway station on the opening day of the New York World's Fair, April 22, 1964. Youths attempted to stall the train, which was headed from the city to the fairgrounds, as a form of protest on behalf of civil rights for blacks. (Photo by Charles Gorry/AP Photo)

A sales woman of a fish shop shows king crabs to a customer and negotiates the price in Noryangjin Fish Market is seen on August 1, 2015 in Seoul, South Korea. Noryangjin Fish Market was established in 1927 as Gyeongseong Susan in Jung-gu near Seoul Station and moved to its current location in 1971. (Photo by Shin Woong-jae/The Washington Post)