“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 newborn baby giraffe shows its tongue at the Planckendael zoo in Mechelen, 25 kilometers North of Brussels, Tuesday, February 18, 2014. The calf was born on Valentines day, February 14, and has a heart shaped spot on the hip. (Photo by Yves Logghe/AP Photo)

Protesters march during a demonstration, Tuesday, October 18, 2022 in Marseille, southern France. France is in the grip of transport strikes and protests for salary raise on Tuesday that threaten to dovetail with days of wage strikes that have already hobbled fuel refineries and depots, sparking chronic gasoline shortages around the country. (Photo by Daniel Cole/AP Photo)

Photographer Will Evans captured this New Forest foal under an incredible double rainbow at Wilverley Inclosure near Brockenhurst, UK on September 21, 2023. (Photo by Will Evans/SnapPhotography/Bournemouth News)

American socialite and actress Karrueche Tran at Revolve Festival: The Eighth Annual Fashion, Music and Lifestyle Event on April 12, 2025 in Thermal, California. (Photo by Chad Salvador/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A woman prays while touching the fingers of a Buddha statue during the annual Makha Bucha Day, which celebrates Buddha's teachings, in Ang Thong, Thailand February 11, 2017. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

Two women kiss as they hold up a placard that reads in Turkish: “I live free. Who's the fool who will put me in chains? I would be shocked” during the LGBTQ Pride March in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, June 26, 2022. Dozens of people were detained in central Istanbul Sunday after city authorities banned a LGBTQ Pride March, organisers said. (Photo by Emrah Gurel/AP Photo)

Protesting university students flee as police fire stun grenades outside Parliament in Cape Town, South Africa, Wednesday October 21, 2015. The protests are part of a wave of nationwide protests that have shut down many South Africa universities, which say they are struggling with higher operational costs as well as inadequate state subsidies. (Photo by AP Photo)