Newcastle United's Fabian Schar and Southampton's Ben Brereton Diaz butt heads before Schar was sent off during the Premier League match between Newcastle United FC and Southampton FC at St James' Park on August 17, 2024 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Scott Heppell/Reuters)

“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)

“Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer, and actress. Nicknamed the “Bronze Venus”, the “Black Pearl”, and even the “Créole Goddess” in anglophone nations.

Baker was the first African American female to star in a major motion picture and to integrate an American concert hall, and to become a world-famous entertainer. She is also noted for her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States (she was offered the unofficial leadership of the movement by Coretta Scott King in 1968 following Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, but turned it down), for assisting the French Resistance during World War II and for being the first American-born woman to receive the French military honor, the Croix de guerre”.

Photo: American entertainer Josephine Baker in costume for her famous “banana dance”. Baker was an overnight sensation when she arrived in Paris in the mid-1920s. (Photo by Walery/Getty Images)

Fighters from Germany take up position before competing in the Medieval Combat World Championship at Malbork Castle, northern Poland, April 30, 2015. Medieval combat is a full contact sport that revives the foot based tournament fighting of medieval Europe. Countries fight in refereed matches where the objective is to get the opposing team to the floor. There are also duels with polearms, swords and shields where the number of hits landed are scored. The fighters, both male and female, wear heavy armours and weapons, mostly replicas of authentic pieces, and fight following the knights code of conduct. According to organizers, 25 nations from 6 continents are taking part in the Championships, which started on April 30 and will go on until May 3. (Photo by Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

The maid-themed cafe in Hangzhou, China on September 29, 2016. A cafe has been bringing in droves of new customers after hiring young women to dress up in Frech maid costumes while serving diners. Curious coffee- and coffee-lovers are coming from all corners of Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province, to get a taste of the “maid cafe” experience. The business is said to have been opened by a man surnamed Yu and his friends, all whom are natives or graduates of the city. The all-female staff who donned the black and white French maid outfits are also students currenting living or studying in Hangzhou, allowing them to marry their passion for serving with the part-time job. (Photo by AsiaWire)

Erotic members-only club Snctm in Los Angeles, California, USA on January 28, 2017. A masqued black-tie dinner that evolves over the course of the night from amuse bouche to what founder, Damon Lawner, calls “erotic theater”, where female performers. Some guests engage, some engage only with each other (while women can buy a ticket, men cannot attend unless they’re members ($10,000-$50,000), part of a couple, or reserve dinner), and others choose not to touch at all. The monthly event at a Holmby Hills mansion is not a sеx or swingers party, but instead is about exploring the boundaries of what sеx means, and how it inherently makes us all feel. (Photo by Elizabeth Lippman)

Takamoto Katsuta of Japan and Aaron Johnston of Ireland with their Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 #18 during the Shakedown of the FIA World Rally Championship Kenya on June 21, 2023 in Naivasha, Kenya. (Photo by Massimo Bettiol/Getty Images)