“A Mothers Tail”. A baby cub pulls on his mother's tail to get attention. Photo location: Masai Mara, Kenya. (Photo and caption by Tori Marsh/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Hindu women worship the Sun god Surya in the polluted waters of the river Yamuna during the Hindu religious festival of Chatt Puja in New Delhi October 30, 2014. Hindu women fast for the whole day for the betterment of their family and the society during the festival. (Photo by Ahmad Masood/Reuters)

Burlesque dancer and Lucha VaVoom co-founder Rita D'Albert gets dressed before the Lucha VaVoom “Night of the Vampire” performance in Los Angeles, California October 29, 2014. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/Reuters)

Challenger Bulgarian heavyweight boxer Kubrat Pulev (R) lies in the ring after being knocked down by Ukrainian WBA, WBO, IBO and IBF heavyweight boxing world champion Vladimir Klitschko (L), who celebrates with his brother Vitali (2nd L), as referee Tony Weeks checks on him after their title fight in Hamburg, November 15, 2014. World heavyweight champion Vladimir Klitschko knocked out Bulgarian challenger Kubrat Pulev with a fierce left hook in the fifth round on Saturday to retain his IBF title and end his opponent's unbeaten record. (Photo by Fabian Bimmer/Reuters)

A truck is seen in a hole after part of the structure of a bridge collapsed into a river in Changchun, Jilin province May 29, 2011. Two truck passengers were injured, while the cause of the accident is still under investigation, local media reported. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

“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)

In this undated photo made available by journal Nature on January 15, 2014, a northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita) flies in Tuscany, Italy. A new study released Wednesday, January 15, 2014 says the birds choreograph the flapping of their wings, getting a boost from an updraft of air in the wake of the flapping wings by flying behind the first bird and off to the side. When a flock of birds take advantage of these aerodynamics, they form a V. (Photo by Markus Unsöld/AP Photo)

People watch dragon dance performance in front of a business establishment in celebration of Chinese New Year at Manila's Chinatown district of Binondo, Philippines, Friday, January 31, 2014. (Photo by Bullit Marquez/AP Photo)