“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)

“Mr. Brainwash (“MBW”) is a pseudonym for Thierry Guetta. According to the Banksy directed film Exit Through the Gift Shop, Guetta is a French citizen who now lives in Los Angeles, having been a proprietor of a clothing store and videographer who evolved into a street artist and gallery artist, influenced by the street artists he documented through video over the years. According to the film, Guetta was first introduced to street art by his cousin, the French street artist, Invader”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Artist Mr. Brainwash stands with his paintings “The Queen” (R) and “Kate Moss” at the Opera Gallery on October 3, 2011 in London, England. Works by pop artist and film maker Thierry Guetta, known as Mr. Brainwash, are on display at the gallery from October 6th to 31st, 2011. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

Hadeel, 10, asks a passerby for help to pay a medical bill as her father Shahrour, 54, sits in his wheelchair in the Douma neighbourhood of Damascus Syria February 3, 2016. Shahrour said he developed diabetes at the beginning of the war in Syria. A lack of insulin led to his medical condition worsening and his right foot had to be amputated. Recently he also suffered a stroke that paralysed half his face. He and part of his extended family, a total of 18 people, live together and struggle to get by. (Photo by Bassam Khabieh/Reuters)

The report, prepared by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Earth Institute at Columbia University, showed Syria, Afghanistan and eight sub-Saharan countries as the 10 least happy places on earth to live. The top 10 this year were Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, and Sweden. Denmark was in third place last year, behind Switzerland and Iceland. The bottom 10 were Madagascar, Tanzania, Liberia, Guinea, Rwanda, Benin, Afghanistan, Togo, Syria and Burundi. The United States came in at 13, the United Kingdom at 23, France at 32, and Italy at 50. Here: #8. NEW ZEALAND: A woman dives from a platform into a giant air bed at a park in Palmerston North September 29, 2011. (Photo by Marcos Brindicci/Reuters)

People sit on a cart with a camel tied to it during “Temeenii bayar”, the Camel Festival, in Dalanzadgad, Umnugobi aimag, Mongolia, March 6, 2016. On the steppes of the Gobi Desert, the crowd urges on Bactrian camels laden down with all that's needed to build and live in a traditional Mongolian tent. Guinness World Records classes the 15 km race thatÕs part of the two-day festival as the largest camel race in the world, drawing 1,108 participants. The winning camel romped home in 35 minutes and 12 seconds, according to the records website. (Photo by B. Rentsendorj/Reuters)

A woman leaves with her television set, as she and others are evicted from their apartment blocks close to the site of last week's building collapse, after their homes were deemed unfit for habitation and marked for demolition, in the Huruma neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya Friday, May 6, 2016. Following a building collapse which claimed at least 40 lives with more 80 people still unaccounted for, after severe flooding, the government has ordered the demolition of similar unsafe buildings in the area. (Photo by Ben Curtis/AP Photo)