“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)

The Japanese punk rock garage quartet Otoboke Beaver perform at Maggie Mae's at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Film Interactive Festival 2017 in Austin, Texas, U.S., March 17, 2017. (Photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters)

28 year old Rupa has her hair shaven to donate to the Gods at the Thiruthani Murugan Temple November 10, 2016 in Thiruttani, India. Rupa donated her hair with the wish that her daughter's illness is cured. The process of shaving ones hair and donating it to the Gods is known as tonsuring. It is common for Hindu believers to tonsure their hair at a temple as a young child, and also to celebrate a wish coming true, such as the birth of a baby or the curing of an illness. The “temple hair”, as it's known, is then auctioned off to a processing plant and then sold as pricey wigs and weaves in the US, Europe and Africa. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)

Photographer and editor with Reuters for 22 years, Andrew Winning has died of brain cancer at the age of 49. Here: Elite special police run for cover after gunfire was heard from inside the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima, Peru, January 27, 1997. At the moment the shots were fired, police were parading past the residence in a show of force, and helicopters were flying above. Earlier, several armored personnel carriers rolled past the compound. Tupac Amaru rebels had seized the diplomatic compound December 17 and held 72 hostages. (Photo by Andrew Winning/Reuters)

An Afghan journalist takes a “selfie” as U.S. President Barack Obama (R) holds a joint news conference with Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani (C) at the White House in Washington March 24, 2015. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

John Klatt and the Air National Guard MXS (right) and Mike Wiskus and the Lucas Oil Pitts take to the skies at the Memphis Airshow, on Sat., September 26, 2016 in Millington, Tenn. (Photo by Brandon Dill/Invision for John Klatt Airshows, Inc./AP Images)

Yakelin Hernandez, 18, poses for a photograph near The Malecon where The Carnival was held, on August 14, 2015. Colorful costumes, dancing, parades and street parties on the Malecon in Havana, Cuba are all part of Havana Carnival 2015 which was held in August. (Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

Chinese military medics take part in a parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of Japan's surrender during World War II held in front of Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, Thursday, September 3, 2015. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)