“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)

Balinese girls in traditional costumes gather during a parade for this year's last sundown in Bali island, Indonesia Thursday, December 31, 2015. (Photo by Firdia Lisnawati/AP Photo)

A wolverine is pictured during its first public appearance at the Animal Park of Sainte-Croix in Rhodes, eastern France on January 28, 2016. (Photo by Frederick Florin/AFP Photo)

The main entrance and blast door at the nuclear bunker site on the Woodside Road industrial estate on February 4, 2016 in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. The underground shelter has been put up for sale by the offices of the Northern Ireland First and Deputy First Minister. The bunker which was completed in 1990 was built to hold up to 235 people in the event of a nuclear bomb and is complete with kitchen facilities, dormitories and decontamination chambers. The site, one of approximately 1,600 nuclear monitoring posts built in the UK since 1955, is on the housing market with an asking price of £575,000. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Brett Gardner #11of the New York Yankees dives into second base on the back end of an attempted double during the first inning in a MLB baseball game at Yankee Stadium on September 3, 2014 in the Bronx borough of New York City. Gardner was tagged out on the play. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)

Participants adjust their make up backstage during a breast model contest in Hefei, Anhui province September 24, 2014. Over 100 models participated in this contest, which was held by a cosmetic company. The winner was awarded 680,000 yuan ($110,825) as cosmetic funds and 30,000 yuan ($4,890) in cash, local media reported. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Passengers from the ferry sinking off South Korea's southern coast are rescued by the South Korean Coast guard in the water off the southern coast near Jindo, south of Seoul, on April 16, 2014. Almost 300 people were missing after a ferry sank off South Korea on Wednesday, the coastguard said, in what could be the country's biggest peacetime disaster in nearly 20 years. (Photo by AP Photo)

Poland's Dawid Kubacki soars through the air during the men's FIS Ski Jumping World Cup competition in Engelberg, central Switzerland, on December 20, 2014. (Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/AFP Photo)