Hot air balloons in flight over Melbourne, Australia on January 24, 2022. (Photo by Rex Features/Shutterstock)

People hold an umbrella under strong wind on the promenade of Victoria Habour as tropical cyclone Ma-on approaches Hong Kong, Wednesday, August 24, 2022.Tropical Storm Ma-on was gaining strength as it headed for Hong Kong and other parts of southeastern China on Wednesday after displacing thousands in the Philippines. (Photo by Anthony Kwan/AP Photo)

A woman carries an umbrella as she walks along a street during snowfall in the Iranian capital Tehran, on February 12, 2023. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP Photo)

A Iraqi soldier of the 9th division is seen within a Humvee in Shyma district in Mosul, Iraq, Tuesday, December 6, 2016. Iraqi forces, backed by the U.S.-led international coalition, launched a campaign in October to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city and IS's last major urban bastion in Iraq. (Photo by Manu Brabo/AP Photo)

“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)

Daniel Ricciardo performs alongside Michael Kneightley in an RAAF F/A-18 Hornet at RAAF Base in East Sale, Victoria, Australia on March 12th, 2014. (Photo by Andy Green/Red Bull Content Pool)

A Nepalese man sits outside a Hindu temple as a goat rests on a parked scooter in Khokana, Lalitpur District, Nepal, Monday, September 26, 2016. Writing on the wall offers prayers to Hindu god Shiva. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)

A roadside currency exchange vendor sorts Indian currency notes at his stall in Agartala, India, December 6, 2016. (Photo by Jayanta Dey/Reuters)