“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 mural depicting Prime Minister Scott Morrison wearing an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt, orange lei and Santa Claus hat while holding a cocktail by artist Scott Marsh is seen on a wall in Sydney, Wednesday, December 25, 2019. Morrison was under pressure since taking a much criticized family vacation to Hawaii during the wildfire crisis.(Photo by Steven Saphore/AAP Images via AP Photo)

Two copper sharks ride the waves in Red Bluff Beach, Australia on July, 2020. Professional photographer Sean Scott, 43, from Burleigh Heads, Australia, caught the stunning snap. (Photo by Sean Scott/MediaDrumImages/@seanscottphotography)

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A person dressed as an astronaut is seen at a metro station in Istanbul, Turkey on December 6, 2021. A man with an astronaut outfit walked around the city's metro stations as part of the promotion of NASA Space Exhibition, which reflects 50 years of space studies and experiences of the NASA, to be opened at Metropol Istanbul Mall. (Photo by Mehmet Murat Onel/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Astronauts Harrison Schmitt (left) and Eugene Andrew Cernan practice taking geological samples at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in preparation for NASA's scheduled Apollo 17 lunar landing mission, on August 28, 1972. Schmitt is the Lunar Module Pilot and Cernan is the mission's Commander. They are training for their period of EVA (extravehicular activity) on the Moon. (Photo by Space Frontiers/Getty Images)

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A woman reacts as anti-government protesters place a dead body on a stretcher after violence erupted in the Independence Square in Kiev, in this February 20, 2014 file photo. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)