A man takes a selfie in front of a fire from oil that has been set ablaze in the Qayyarah area, some 60 kilometres (35 miles) south of Mosul, on October 19, 2016, during an operation by Iraqi forces against Islamic State (IS) group jihadists to retake the main hub city. In the biggest Iraqi military operation in years, forces have retaken dozens of villages, mostly south and east of Mosul, and are planning multiple assaults for October 20. (Photo by Yasin Akgul/AFP Photo)

Indian artist, Ravi Kali (32), dressed as Hindu goddess Kali, participates in a religious procession for the Hindu festival, Ganesh Chaturthi in New Delhi on September 24, 2015. (Photo by Chandan Khanna/AFP Photo)

A sticker is seen at the Rocky Mountain Guns and Ammo store in Parker, Colorado July 24, 2012. The killing of 12 people at a midnight screening of the new Batman movie in the Denver suburb of Aurora may spark a fresh round of soul-searching on America's relationship with guns but few predict any real change in the law. (Photo by Shannon Stapleton/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 passenger not wearing pants sits in a subway train during the “No Pants Subway Ride” in Prague, Czech Republic, January 10, 2016. The event is an annual flash mob and occurs in different cities around the world in January, according to its organisers. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)

A lunar eclipse appears behind a gargoyle atop the old red Dallas County Courthouse early Wednesday morning, October 8, 2014. The moon appears orange or red, the result of sunlight scattering off Earth's atmosphere. This is known as the blood moon. (Photo by Tom Fox/AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News)

Zombie Boy, who holds a Guinness World Record for most bones inked on a human body, gave Londoners a fright on October 5, 2016 as he was spotted at commuter hotspots across the capital to promote Thorpe Park’s new Halloween attraction. Canadian born Zombie Boy has 90% of his body covered in tattoos with a value of over $20,000 in total, including an entire skeleton and skull on his face, visited Canary Wharf, Oxford Street and Soho. (Photo by Rex Features)

Juno, a Beluga whale, greets a young viewer at the Mystic aquarium in Connecticut, USA on December 5, 2015. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis)