A Syrian rebel walks past Sham 2, a homemade armored vehicle, in Bishqatin, Syria, on December 8, 2012. From a distance it looks rather like a big rusty metal box but closer inspection reveals a homemade armored vehicle waiting to be deployed. Sham II, named after ancient Syria, is built from the chassis of a car and touted by rebels as “100 percent made in Syria”. (Photo by Herve Bar/AFP Photo)

“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 girl performs martial arts during a function to mark International Women's Day at a school in Hyderabad, India, on March 7, 2014. (Photo by Mahesh Kumar A./Associated Press)

Elephants spray tourists with water in celebration of the Songkran water festival in Thailand's Ayutthaya province, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Bangkok, April 9, 2014. (Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EFE)

A pole-dancing robot built by British artist Giles Walker performs at a gentlemen's club Monday, January 8, 2018, in Las Vegas. The event was held to coincide with CES International. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)

Participant Andreea Teodorescu, 17, races on a snowboard during the Bikini Race contest held at Arena Platos Paltinis winter resort, near Sibiu city, 275 km north from Bucharest, Romania, 04 March 2018. The Bikini Race is a timed show on the slopes, at the sixth edition, for women dressed only in swimmsuits and some winter accessories. (Photo by Mircea Rosca/EPA/EFE)

A drag performer named Reagan Holiday competes in a drag queen competition called MR(S) BK in the Brooklyn borough in New York City, U.S. on March 10, 2018. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Reuters)

Armed forces veteran Frank Simpson at the Portico library being camouflaged by body artist Carolyn Roper in Manchester, UK on May 16, 2016 as part of the #CountThemIn campaign launched on Monday by the Royal British Legion. (Photo by Jon Super/Royal British Legion/PA Wire)