“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 masked woman poses for a picture during a march demanding justice for the victims of gender violence and femicides in Mexico City, Mexico on August 16, 2020. (Photo by Raquel Cunha/Reuters)

Singer Dua Lipa poses for photographers upon arrival at the amfAR, Cinema Against AIDS, benefit at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, during the 72nd international Cannes film festival, in Cap d'Antibes, southern France, Thursday, May 23, 2019. (Photo by Joel C. Ryan/Invision/AP Photo)

Masked guests attend the “Grand Bal Christian Dior” during the Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2018 fashion collection presented in Paris, Monday, January 22, 2018. (Photo by Kamil Zihnioglu/AP Photo)

A man takes a picture of models as they pose next to Cosmis Racing Wheels products during the 2016 Moscow International Auto Salon in Moscow, Russia, August 26, 2016. (Photo by Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)

Carolaine Reis and her son Miguel Alves, residents of the Aglomerado da Serra favela, wear a protective mask against the spread of the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) made by the seamstresses of the Remexe Favelinha studio, in the Aglomerado da Serra favela, on April 13, 2020 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Facial masks follow the protocol and guidelines defined by the Ministry of Health. Around 6,000 masks have already been produced. The masks are being distributed to a part of the population and sold throughout the country, in the amount of 5 reais per unit. (Photo by Pedro Vilela/Getty Images)

Members of the contemporary circus company Cirk La Putyka perform in front of sculpture of Franz Kafka's head to entertain local residents in Prague, Czech Republic, 21 April 2020. The aim of the Cirk La Putyka events in the streets of Czech capital is to get live art back to people during the lockdown. According to them, when people can't go to the artists, to the theater, the actors go to the people. The Czech government has imposed a lockdown in an attempt to slow down the spread of the pandemic COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. (Photo by Martin Divisek/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Students with torches protest against the alleged encroachment of Nepal border by India in far west of Nepal, during the 49th day of a lockdown imposed by the government amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Kathmandu, Nepal on May 11, 2020. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)