In this June 1, 2016 photo, Maria Arias stands near her kitchen as she puts on earrings while getting ready for school in Caracas, Venezuela. So many students have fainted from hunger at Maria's school that administrators told parents to keep their children home until they could find more food. (Photo by Ariana Cubillos/AP 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)

Bangladesh is one of the few Muslim countries in the world where prostitution is legal. The Kandapara brothel in the district of Tangail is the oldest and second-largest in the country – it has existed for some 200 years. Here: Kajol with a customer. (Photo by Sandra Hoyn)

In this Monday, January 23, 2017 photo, chicken feet snacks shop owner Leung Kin-kung testes a chicken feet in Hong Kong. Saturday marks the start of the lunar Year of the Rooster and families in China will reunite for festivities, fireworks and food. While tradition calls for feasting on “auspicious” foods, many will also munch on staple snacks like “phoenix claws”, the Chinese name for chicken feet. (Photo by Vincent Yu/AP Photo)

A Philippine boy collects used plastic bottles to be sold at a junk shop at Divisoria market in Manila on November 29, 2017. (Photo by Noel Celis/AFP Photo)

Highland dancers perform on Thursday, August 4, 2022 on the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle at this year's Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. After a two-year hiatus the Tattoo returns with the 2022 show titled “Voices” with over 800 performers and includes international performances from Mexico, The United States, Switzerland and New Zealand. (Photo by Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)

Workers carry sacks of tea leaves at a tea estate in Nagaon district in the northeastern state of Assam, India, August 22, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A colorful drawing is seen on a wall in Baghdad, Iraq on October 24, 2021. A group of volunteer painters tries to give hope and joy to the Iraqi residents by painting colorful murals on the walls of the houses and streets of the city, tired of violance. Seve-member group named “Butterfly Effect” is busy in drawing paintings to depict life in Baghdad and its cultural heritage on the buildings (Photo by Murtadha Al-Sudani/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)