Russian soldiers write home while serving on the Eastern Front during World War I, circa 1915. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Members of a cheerleading team warm- up during the Russian Cheerleading Championship of students in Moscow on November 20, 2016. (Photo by Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP Photo)

Russian supermodel Irina Shayk shares a snap from an “island summer nite (sic)” in the last decade of August 2022. (Photo by irinashayk/Instagram)

“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 an observance of Epiphany, Russian Orthodox believers swim in an icy pond outside Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. (Photo by Olga “Zwezdochka”)

Russian model Irina Shayk encourages fans to find their own unicorn in the second decade of April 2022. (Photo by irinashayk/Instagram)

Russian model Irina Shayk in the last decade of August 2023 sent fans wild with these shots of her posing topless on rocks. (Photo by irinashayk/Instagram)

Despite their thick fur, this group of dogs and puppies in China feel the cold. Luckily, in the winter, they're allowed to huddle round a staff canteen stove in their home in Jiulongjiang Forest Park, Rucheng County.