“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)

Stranded cars remain in a flooded street during an intense rainstorm in Havana, on April 29, 2015. Two people were killed, three buildings collapsed and another 24 suffered some kind of damage due to the heavy rain that affected several sectors of Havana Wednesday. (Photo by Yamil Lage/AFP Photo)

Lucie Clayton instructs pupils in the art of correct posture by balancing a glass and book on their heads at her finishing school in Old Cavendish Street, London. (Photo by William Vanderson/Fox Photos/Getty Images). 25th November 1936

Once upon a time a myth was born that insects, unlike animals, are just a machines that not capable of learning and survive only based on their instincts. That myth has become the widespread opinion. Of course, this opinion is indeed erroneous, like many other widespread opinions. Let us try to find out which part is a myth and which part is true.

Among the fish populations that could be harmed by the Xayaburi dam in Laos is the critically endangered Mekong giant catfish, considered by the Guinness Book of World Records to be the world’s largest freshwater fish. The fish, which grows to 650 pounds and about 10 feet long, is only found in the Mekong River. It is migratory, moving between downstream habitats in Cambodia upstream to northern Thailand and Laos each year to spawn. Some experts fear the Xayaburi dam could block the migration and drive the giant catfish to extinction. (Photo by Courtesy of Zeb Hogan/University of Nevada, Reno)

Two stallions confront each other at a horse fighting contest in Rongshui, China. More than 30 horses from surrounding regions took part in the traditional activity of the Lantern festival. (Photo by China Foto Press)

Models get their makeup backstage during the Ukrainian Fashion Week in Kiev, Ukraine, 01 September 2020. (Photo by Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA/EFE)

Girls wearing protective face masks wait to pray inside temple premises on the occasion of the annual harvest festival of Onam on the outskirts of Kochi, India, August 31, 2020. (Photo by Sivaram V/Reuters)