A colourful sky before sunrise on Whitley Bay beach on December 21, 2015, as December could be the mildest across a large part of England since records began more than 350 years ago, forecasters have said. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)

Battersea Power Station. The chimney rims are thinner on top than you might expect. (Photo by Bradley L. Garrett)

The Brocken specter or mountain spectre phenomenon, where the shadow of an observer is magnified and cast on a cloud opposite from the sun or bright light source, is observed on the Howgills, outside Sedbergh, Britain, on December 26, 2024. (Photo by Suzanne Plunkett/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)

A woman looks at cows on the Mare e Sol beach in Coti-Chiavari, on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, on May 17, 2017. A herd of some thirty wild cattle take up their summer residence on stretch of beach each year. (Photo by Pascal Pochard-Casabianca/AFP Photo)

Dutch artist Maxim Gazendam works on his sand sculpture during the third edition of the European Championship Sand Sculpting 2014 in Zandvoort aan Zee, The Netherlands, 08 August 2014. Eight sculptors from different European countries will each create an impressive sculpture on the main theme “Music and Dance”. (Photo by Remko De Waal/EPA)

World's Greatest Swimming Pools: Four Seasons, Serengeti Pool, Tanzania. A show of elephants, buffalo and baboons awaits thanks to an active watering hole below the free-form infinity pool at this plush hideaway inside Serengeti National Park. Bonus: Because of infrared technology at the hole, guests can be notified on their bedroom TV when animals are approaching. When you've got word of wildlife on the horizon, catch them from your private terrace – or head back to the pool. (From $1,650). (Photo by Four Seasons)

A goose attacks an Orthodox believer as he leaves the icy waters of a pond during the celebration of the Orthodox Epiphany holiday in Kiev on January 19, 2018. Thousands of Ukrainian Orthodox Church followers plunged into icy rivers and ponds across the country to mark Epiphany, cleansing themselves with water deemed holy for the day. (Photo by Sergei Supinsky/AFP Photo)