A man watches the approaching flames as the Springs fire continues to grow near Camarillo, California, on May 3, 2013. The wildfire has spread to more than 18,000 acres on day two and is 20 percent contained. (Photo by David McNew)

A visitor walks on a giant chalk artwork called “Wasting Time” at the Chalk Urban Arts Festival in Sydney on October 25, 2014. The picture is the biggest 3-D artwork created in Australia by two artists, Leon Keer from Holland and Jenny McCracken from Australia. (Photo by Peter Parks/AFP 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)

Winner, photojournalism. Elephant in the room, by Adam Oswell, Australia Zoo. Visitors watch a young elephant performing underwater. Oswell was disturbed by this scene, and organisations concerned with the welfare of captive elephants say performances like this encourage unnatural behaviour. In Thailand, there are now more elephants in captivity than in the wild. With the Covid pandemic causing tourism to collapse, elephant sanctuaries are becoming overwhelmed with animals that can no longer be looked after by their owners. (Photo by Adam Oswell/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021)

A young man weaves palm fronds into the shape of a cross before the start of a Mass to observe Palm Sunday, at the Metropolitan Cathedral, in Managua, Nicaragua, Sunday, March 29, 2015. For Christians, Palm Sunday marks the start of Holy Week ahead of Easter, commemorating Jesus Christ's entrance into Jerusalem, when his followers laid palm branches in his path. (Photo by Esteban Felix/AP Photo)

“Farmer reading his farm paper”. Coryell County, Texas, September 1931. (Photo by George W. Ackerman)

P.S. All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture (if available; this principle works anywhere on the site AvaxNews).

Svetlana Tseyko feeds a 10-month-old moose named Grisha in the courtyard in the village of Abramy, some 160 km northwest of Minsk, on February 21, 2017. (Photo by Sergei Gapon/AFP Photo)

People walk past stranded cargo ship “Ocean Crown” during a windy weather in Klaipeda, Lithuania on December 26, 2017. (Photo by Ints Kalnins/Reuters)