“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)

The battle by Jose Garcia, US. Category: bird behaviour. A great white heron (Ardea herodias occidentalis) fighting a green snake in the Florida Everglades. The fight lasted for nearly 20 minutes with the heron having to release its prey. (Photo by Jose Garcia/2017 Bird Photographer of the Year Awards)

Guatemalan wrestlers and relatives carry the coffin of late eighteen-year-old wrestler Laisha Cameros, known as “La Hija del Zorro” who was shot dead during an assault two days ago, during her funeral at the General Cemetery in Guatemala City on February 11, 2019. Cameros was a victim of an armed attack at Limon neighborhood where Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 gangs operate. (Photo by Johan Ordóñez/AFP Photo)

Presenter Sofia Vergara arrives at the 88th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California February 28, 2016. (Photo by Adrees Latif/Reuters)

A young oriental small-clawed otter at the zoo in Neumuenster, Germany, March 5, 2014. The six young otters (one male, five female) were born on December 7, 2013. (Photo by Maja Hitij/EPA)

Festival goers dance during Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, near Pilton, Somerset, Britain, 23 June 2017. The outdoor festival runs from 21 to 25 June. (Photo by Nigel Roddis/EPA)

Two women jump from a platform over the water at La Concha beach during a hot summer day in the basque city of San Sebastian, northern Spain, Friday, August 3, 2018. Hot air from Africa is bringing a heat wave to Europe, prompting health warnings about Sahara Desert dust and exceptionally high temperatures that could peak at 47 degrees Celsius (117 Fahrenheit) in Spain and Portugal. (Photo by Alvaro Barrientos/AP Photo)

Children watch and react as a T-Rex moves and growls in an inter-active display at Field Station Dinosaurs in Secaucus, N.J on May 25, 2012. There will be 31 types of life-sized dinosaurs displayed at the Jurassic expedition that opens Saturday, May 26. (Photo by Mel Evans/Associated Press)