American actress and professional kiteboarder Maika Monroe is seen leaving the Saint Laurent show on February 25, 2020 in Paris, France. (Photo by Beretta/Sims/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A female Indian rhinoceros called Maruska eats a vegetable birthday cake on her first birthday celebration at the Plzen Zoo on February 3, 2015 in Plzen, Czech Republic. (Photo by Ladislav Nemec/Isifa)

A lunar eclipse appears behind a gargoyle atop the old red Dallas County Courthouse early Wednesday morning, October 8, 2014. The moon appears orange or red, the result of sunlight scattering off Earth's atmosphere. This is known as the blood moon. (Photo by Tom Fox/AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News)

“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)

Sri Lankan military personnel march during the country's 66th Independence Day celebrations in the central town of Kegalle, about 40 kms from the capital Colombo on February 4, 2014. Sri Lanka cemmemorates its independence from British rule on February 4, 1948. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

Kevin and Merith Starren have their picture taken by Merith's brother Mark Ernst (R) and nephew Logan Ernst (L) in front of a 50-foot snowman named “Granddaddy” in Gilman, Minnesota, March 6, 2014. (Photo by Eric Miller/Reuters)

American actress Vanessa Hudgens attends Beyoncé's “Renaissance” concert in Los Angeles on September 4, 2023. (Photo by vanessahudgens/Instagram)

Bollywood actress Chitrashi Rawat lies in a plastic drum as she is briefed by a crew member during the shoot for the film “Black Home” at a beach on the outskirts of Mumbai April 26, 2013. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)