A boy holds his mother's leg as he cries in front of their damaged house after a strong 6.6 magnitude earthquake at Longmen village, Lushan county in Ya'an, Sichuan province. (Photo by Jason Lee/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 newborn baby giraffe shows its tongue at the Planckendael zoo in Mechelen, 25 kilometers North of Brussels, Tuesday, February 18, 2014. The calf was born on Valentines day, February 14, and has a heart shaped spot on the hip. (Photo by Yves Logghe/AP Photo)

A Chinese man uses an old film camera to take a picture of relatives near the Forbidden City on March 27, 2014 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

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)

“Thunderstruck”. Summer stom. A super cell formed off the coast of New Zealand, intensified and swept across Christchurch and North Canterbury, February 23, 2014. Photo location: Christchurch, New Zealand. (Photo and caption by David Hardy/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A Nepalese man sits outside a Hindu temple as a goat rests on a parked scooter in Khokana, Lalitpur District, Nepal, Monday, September 26, 2016. Writing on the wall offers prayers to Hindu god Shiva. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)

A dog from the K9 Division of the Sri Lanka Army’s Commando Regiment performs during an event to mark International Children’s Day at a school in Welisara, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 01 October 2016. Sri Lanka marks the Children's Day on 01 October with more emphasis on prevention of child abuse. (Photo by M.A. Pushpa Kumara/EPA)