A girl bathes her dog, next to her sister on a street of the San Agustin neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, April 3, 2023. (Photo by Matias Delacroix/AP Photo)

Sparks fly in front of the Milky Way in Himachal Pradesh, India on May 12, 2023. Lit steel wool is spun in front of the stunning cluster of stars and over a pool of water. The scene was pictured in the Himalayas, by using a 30 second exposure to capture the stars and movement of sparks. (Photo by Ganesh Bagal/Solent News/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Charlotte FC goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina deflects a shot by Inter Miami forward Leonardo Campana during the second half of an MLS soccer match, Wednesday, October 18, 2023, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)

A member of the carnival group “La Vijanera de Silio” poses during the traditional ancient festival in the town of Silio, northern Spain, Saturday, January 7, 2023. (Photo by Alvaro Barrientos/AP Photo)

Two stags fight in a wildlife park in Aurach near Kitzbuehel, in the Austrian province of Tyrol. (Photo by Kerstin Joensson/Associated Press)

“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 visitor holds an Israeli-made rifle during the 8th International Land and Naval Defense system exhibition, in New Delhi, India, on February 6, 2014. (Photo by Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters)

People feed the birds in Battery Park in the Manhattan borough of New York, December 18, 2014. Hart has been feeding the birds three times a week for the last three years. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters)