“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)

Beachgoers watch the detonation of a 500 pound British bomb on the beach on May 19, 2014 in Wassenaar, Netherlands. The bomb was dropped by the British allied forces during the second world war over nearby Leiden where it was found on a building site. (Photo by Michel Porro/Getty Images)

Ukrainians pour water on each other on a street in Lviv, Ukraine, 02 May 2016. The tradition of pouring water was an ancient spring ritual of cleansing on first Monday after Orthodox Easter. (Photo by Mykola Tys/EPA)

A visitor walks past an installation artwork entitled “Confuciuse” which combines the word “Confucius” and “confuse” in the contemporary art exhibition at “Fun and Art” Festival on December 13, 2008 in Xian of Shaanxi Province, China. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

A member of the Eton public school O.T.C. (Officers Training Corps) practising shouting out orders during a training session, 20th January 1940. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

“Horst Ludwig Wessel (October 9, 1907 – February 23, 1930) was a German Nazi activist who was made a posthumous hero of the Nazi movement following his violent death in 1930. He was the author of the lyrics to the song “Die Fahne hoch” (“The Flag On High”), usually known as Horst-Wessel-Lied (“The Horst Wessel Song”), which became the Nazi Party anthem and, de facto, Germany's co-national anthem from 1933 to 1945”. – Wikipedia

Photo: German Nazi activist Horst Wessel (left) at the head of a parade of S.A. stormtroopers, or “brownshirts”, in Nuremberg, Germany, 1929. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

“Wombats are Australian marsupials; they are short-legged, muscular quadrupeds, approximately 1 metre (39 in) in length with a short, stubby tail. They are adaptable in their habitat tolerances, and are found in forested, mountainous, and heathland areas of south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania, as well as an isolated patch of about 300 ha in Epping Forest National Park in central Queensland”. – Wikipedia

Photo: “Abdul”, a baby Common Wombat, is one of the marsupials on show during the spring baby boom at Taronga Zoo September 1, 2005 in Sydney, Australia. “Abdul” was orphaned when his mother was killed by a car. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)

A gold miner observes from the distance how some women miners work at an open-pit gold mine in Nyarugusu, Geita Region, Tanzania on May 27, 2022. Tanzania is a land rich in minerals and one of the main gold producers in Africa, with gold representing more than 90% of the country's mineral exports. Artisanal and small-scale gold mining have culturally and historically relegated women's participation. The extractive sector in Tanzania has historically been a male-dominated industry with high levels of harassment, sеxual abuse, discrimination and misconceptions over women's involvement, and contributions following traditional beliefs. (Photo by Luis Tato/AFP Photo)