“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)

Daniel Ricciardo performs alongside Michael Kneightley in an RAAF F/A-18 Hornet at RAAF Base in East Sale, Victoria, Australia on March 12th, 2014. (Photo by Andy Green/Red Bull Content Pool)

Two stags fight in a wildlife park in Aurach near Kitzbuehel, in the Austrian province of Tyrol. (Photo by Kerstin Joensson/Associated Press)

A dog rests on a buffalo near Ravi River in Lahore, Pakistan, on Febuary 4, 2013. (Photo by Mohsin Raza/Reuters)

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A demonstrator is detained during May Day rallies in Santiago May 1, 2013. (Photo by Ivan Alvarado/Reuters)

Two young boys kneel on stools on either side of a round table as one uses a match to this the other's cigarette, November 12, 1928. (Photo by FPG/Getty Images)

Monaco's Princess Charlotte Casiraghi arrives to attend a mass at the Saint Nicholas Cathedral during the celebrations marking Monaco's National Day, on November 19, 2016 in Monaco. (Photo by Valery Hache/Reuters)

A narrow strip of clouds illuminated in the light of sunset before approaching rain clouds over an alley near Sieversdorf district Oder-Spree, Brandenburg, Germany on July 14, 2016. (Photo by Patrick Pleul/DPA)