“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)

Kirby waits to be judged during the 44th annual Drake Relays Beautiful Bulldog Contest, Monday, April 24, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa. The pageant kicks off the Drake Relays festivities at Drake University where a bulldog is the mascot. (Photo by Charlie Neibergall/AP Photo)

(L-R) Singers Kelly Rowland, Beyonce and Michelle Williams perform during the Pepsi Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on February 3, 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Handout grab taken from YouTube of Commander Chris Hadfield who has said goodbye to life on the International Space Station by making a cover version of David Bowie's Space Oddity. Issue date: Monday May 13, 2013. (Photo by Commander Chris Hadfield/YouTube/PA Wire)

Participants of the techno-parade “Zug der Liebe” (Train of love) dance on a street in Berlin, Germany July 25, 2015. The “Zug der Liebe” is the successor to the “Loveparade”, which in its heyday attracted up to 100,000 participants and ended in disaster and tragedy in 2010 when 21 people died and over 500 were injured due to suffocation from overcrowding at the “Loveparade” in Duisburg. (Photo by Axel Schmidt/Reuters)

Charli XCX arrives for the 30th Annual ARIA Awards 2016 at The Star on November 23, 2016 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

French photographer and director Romain Laurent started making portrait-based GIFs as a way to produce work outside his commercial jobs, a spontaneous project that would encourage him to produce consistently for himself rather than clients.

Michael Fröhlich's Jowett Javelin rotting car in his forest sculpture park in Neandertal Germany, September 11, 2016. An eccentric artist has collected fifty vintage cars and left them to rot in a forest – and now they're worth over $1 million.