Tourists take photographs with a statue of Shakira at the Malecon in Barranquilla, Colombia, on December 26, 2023. Arms interlocked high, belly exposed, and torso folded to one side anticipate Shakira's iconic hip movement, immortalized on Tuesday in a 6.5-meter-high statue in the Colombian port city of Barranquilla, where she grew up. (Photo by Carlos Parra Rios/Reuters)

“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 couple dance tango for tourists at Caminito, a touristic hotspot of La Boca neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, October 15, 2016. (Photo by Enrique Marcarian/Reuters)

Animals destined for the stage of Radio City Music Hall in New York on November 13, 1986 are led to the stage door by their co-stars, the Rockettes dancers. A variety of animals, including camels, sheep and donkeys, will star in an annual Christmas production. (Photo by G. Paul Burnett/AP Photo)

A man photographs Anila Quayyum Agha's “Intersections” art work on the first day of ArtPrize at the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Wednesday, September 24, 2014. (Photo by Emily Rose Bennett/AP Photo/The Grand Rapids Press)

Visitors look on as a man (front) inserts two live snakes through his nose and mouth during a performance at an amusement park to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and the 7-day national day holiday, in Jinhua, Zhejiang province October 1, 2014. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A adorable bear cub cant get enough of playing buckaroo – as it hangs onto its mum splashing about in a river. His mum was attempting to catch a fish supper for the pair as the plucky cub continued to jump on her back. And as she was concentrating on her meal the young bear became a distraction. So she sprung into life with him on her back before he was tossed into the water much to his delight. (Photo by Lisa Sidorsky/Caters News)

Women wearing bikinis and Santa Claus hats participate in a promotional event to celebrate the upcoming Christmas at a ski resort in Xuchang, Henan province, December 23, 2014. Ten women wore Santa Claus-themed bikinis to welcome the coming Christmas in temperatures below zero Celsius. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)