“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 five-week-old orphaned Southern Sea Otter pup rests on a rubber mat after arriving at the Shedd Aquarium's Abbott Oceanarium in Chicago, Illinois October 28, 2014 in this handout photo provided to Reuters on November 5, 2014. The stranded pup was found on September 30 on Coastways Beach in California and was rescued the next day to be brought back to health at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Southern sea otters were listed as “threatened” under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 1977. (Photo by Brenna Hernandez/Reuters/Shedd Aquarium)

Debutantes are photographed at the 68th International Debutante Ball at the Plaza Hotel in New York, New York, USA, 29 December 2022. The International Debutante Ball is a traditional family occasion in the New York social season. The ball provides an exciting social setting in which young women and men from all over the world meet one another, have a wonderful time, and form lasting friendships. This year's debutantes represent Belgium, England, France, Greece, Iran, Scotland, and five American states. (Photo by Peter Foley/EPA/EFE)

Waverly Fire's Tell Hanes, left, and Southeast Fire's Trey Wayne, right, jump over freezing water to high five while participating in a Surface Ice rescue technician course on Friday, January 6, 2023, at Holmes Lake Park in Lincoln, Neb. The International Rescue and Relief department at Union college held rescue training course at Holmes Lake for students and local fire departments. (Photo by Kenneth Ferriera/Lincoln Journal Star via AP Photo)

In this January 31, 2014 file photo released by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), shows residents of the besieged Palestinian camp of Yarmouk, queuing to receive food supplies, in Damascus, Syria. That year, the U.N. was able to deliver food to about five percent of people in besieged areas including Yarmouk, while today estimates show the organization is reaching less than one percent. (Photo by UNRWA via AP Photo)

A portrait of late communist leader Mao Zedong is seen behind two hostesses as they pose for a picture at the Tiananmen Square during the 3nd plenary session of the National People's Congress in Beijing on March 13, 2016. China's Communist-controlled parliament opened its annual session on March 5 and is expected to appove a new five-year plan to tackle slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy. (Photo by Wang Zhao/AFP Photo)

Two brothers have built a human catapult to fly into a lake. Johannes Schrieber, 26, and his brother Daniel, 28, from Frankfurt, Germany built the wooden contraption, which can fire people five metres into the sky and 12 metres away. The brothers raised more than £700 through crowdfunding to buy the materials, with every penny well spent as nobody has died yet! (Photo by Caters News)

The Museum of Feelings doesn't really have “exhibits" in the conventional sense; rather, visitors move from one themed alcove to another, five in total, each with its own distinctive aroma. The “Optimistic Room," bathed in vivid pink and purple light, is little more than a lightshow, with patrons using small reflective panels to bounce light around the room. Here: People interact in the “optimistic” room at the Museum of Feelings, a pop-up installation in New York, December 15, 2015. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Reuters)