“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)

Miss USA Alyssa Campanella arrives at the 2nd Annual American Giving Awards at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on December 7, 2012 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Gregg DeGuire/WireImage)

People in costume take photos during a Halloween event on October 31, 2015 in Lan Kwai Fong, Central District, Hong Kong. Halloween, a named taken from 'All Hallows' Even' falls on the day before All Saints' Day on November 1, a holiday when Christians remember their deceased loved ones. (Photo by Jerome Favre/Getty Images)

The NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 21 mission began on July 21 as an international crew of aquanauts splashed down to the undersea Aquarius Reef Base, located 62 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The NEEMO 21 crew will perform research both inside and outside the habitat during a 16-day simulated space mission. During simulated spacewalks carried out underwater, they will evaluate tools and mission operation techniques that could be used in future space missions, including journeys to Mars. (Photo by Karl Shreeves/NASA)

A love story with two log choppers. “In 1993, I was working on a project about life in the Olomouc region of Czechoslovakia. One day, I came to the village of Dlouhá Loučka-Křivá and went into a courtyard where I saw two old people, a husband and wife, sawing firewood for winter. They were working quietly, concentrating. I watched them fetch a beam from a wrecked barn, but they didn’t discuss how they planned to carry it to the saw. The woman faced one way, the man the other. When they realised, the woman eventually turned and followed her husband. The picture I took is the picture of many relationships – when each partner wants something different, but they have to come to an agreement, pull together eventually”. (Photo by Jindrich Streit)

Model Amber Rose attends the Maxim Hot 100 Party at the Hollywood Palladium on July 30, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

A participant of the “Mrs Universe 2015” contest from Caribbean Coast, Mayra Joli poses for a photo with a woman during their visit in central botanical garden in Minsk, Belarus, August 25, 2015. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

Models on the catwalk Yeezy: Season 4 show, Spring Summer 2017, New York Fashion Week, USA on September 7, 2016. (Photo by Your Name/BFA/Rex Features/Shutterstock)