Spectators cheer as the United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket, with NASA's Orion spacecraft mounted atop, lifts off from the Air Force Station, December 5, 2014, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (Photo by Smiley N. Pool/AP Photo/Houston Chronicle)

A female Indian rhinoceros called Maruska eats a vegetable birthday cake on her first birthday celebration at the Plzen Zoo on February 3, 2015 in Plzen, Czech Republic. (Photo by Ladislav Nemec/Isifa)

“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)

Sri Lankan military personnel march during the country's 66th Independence Day celebrations in the central town of Kegalle, about 40 kms from the capital Colombo on February 4, 2014. Sri Lanka cemmemorates its independence from British rule on February 4, 1948. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

A rebel fighter carries his weapon as he moves through a hole in a wall in the old city of Aleppo near the frontline against forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad December 28, 2014. (Photo by Jalal Al-Mamo/Reuters)

A woman prays at the edge of a river during a protest against the building of a pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation near Cannonball, North Dakota, U.S. November 2, 2016. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Reuters)

Protesters on a freeway onramp amid a chaotic traffic situation with the shutdown of the freeway in downtown Los Angeles, California after midnight early on November 10, 2016 as protesters angry over Donald J. Trump's election as the next US president marched in downtown Los Angeles through the evening and shut down portions of the Hollywood (101) Freeway. Thousands of protesters rallied across the United States expressing shock and anger over Donald Trump's election, vowing to oppose divisive views they say helped the Republican billionaire win the presidency. (Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP Photo)

A model walks the runway during the Di$count Universe show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Resort 17 Collections at Carriageworks on May 18, 2016 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Stefan Gosatti/Getty Images)