An elephant from Earl's Court Circus with a man in its mouth, 1928. P.S. All pictures are presented in high resolution.

Global wildlife populations will decline by 67% by 2020 unless urgent action is taken to reduce human impact on species and ecosystems, warns the biennial Living Planet Index report from WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) and ZSL (Zoological Society of London). From elephants to eels, here are some of the wildlife populations most affected by human activity. Here: The maned wolf is among the large mammals in the Brazilian Cerrado that are threatened by the increasing conversion of grasslands into farmland for grazing and growing crops. (Photo by Ben Cranke/Nature Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo)

A Southwest Airlines jet takes off from Reagan National Airport with a thunderhead to the east on June 20, 2017 in Alexandria, VA. (Photo by Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)

A view of trees shrouded in fog on a late summer morning between Tureby and Slimminge on Zealand, Denmark, 10 September 2021. (Photo by Mads Claus Rasmussen/EPA/EFE)

A model presents a creation of Peruvian designer Ani Alvarez Calderon during Fashion Week in Lima, Peru, April 25, 2017. (Photo by Guadalupe Pardo/Reuters)

“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)

Amal Clooney attends the “Money Monster” premiere during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival at the Palais des Festivals on May 12, 2016 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

People participate in a pillow fight to mark International Pillow Fight Day in the Heroes' Square, in central Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, April 2, 2016. The Pillow Fight Day attracts tens of thousands people in more than 100 cities all over the World each year. ((Photo by Zoltan Balogh/MTI via AP Photo)