Boston Bruins center Charlie Coyle (13) goes airborne as New York Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov (40) makes the save in a shootout during an NHL hockey game, Tuesday, December 13, 2022, in Boston. (Photo by Charles Krupa/AP Photo)

United States's Jessie Diggins celebrates winning the cross-country ski, women's Tour de Ski overall standings, in Val di Fiemme, Italy, Sunday, January 7, 2024. (Photo by Alessandro Trovati/AP Photo)

The “Strandbeest” sculpture created by Dutch artist Theo Jansen walks at Federation Square on February 1, 2012 in Melbourne, Australia. The 12 metre long, 4 metre high and 2 metre wide structure built of plastic tubes and bottles designed to walk using wind energy will be on display at Federation Square until February 26. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

“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)