Cameron Shonnard backflips a jump at Squaw Valley in Olympic Valley, California, December 5, 2015. An El Nino is forecasted for California, and regular precipitation has been welcomed after years of drought. (Photo by Max Whittaker/Reuters)

Germany's Darja Varfolomeev competes in the individual all-around final of the Olympic qualifier 40th FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Valencia on August 26, 2023. (Photo by Jose Jordan/AFP Photo)

Andrea Spendolini Sirieix and Lois Toulson of Britain in action during the women's synchronized 10m diving at the Paris Olympics on July 31, 2024. (Photo by Leah Millis/Reuters)

Logan Edra of the United States, known as Logistx, competes in the Women's Breaking dance Round robin of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at La Concorde in Paris, on August 9, 2024. (Photo by Angelika Warmuth/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)

Tree trunks are seen in a forest on November 8, 2011 near Landau an der Isar, Germany. The German government is conducting a nationwide project to estimate the number, variety and geographic distribution of trees and forests in Germany, as well as their condition and health. Approximately a third of Germany is covered in woodlands, and though that territory has actually expanded since 1989, some analysts fear demand for wood will outstrip supply in coming years due to national growth in industry and bio-energy needs. (Photo by Johannes Simon/Getty Images)

A climate activist wears an oxygen mask to demonstrate the possibility of pumping oxygen from a tree in a bottle in the future, during a protest against the government's deforestation practices of Sri Lanka's main wildlife forests for developments in Colombo, Sri Lanka on March 22, 2021. (Photo by Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)

Mare Sorie, left, and her friend Tsehaynesh Golja, right, take a rest as they carry bundles of firewood from the forest around Entoto mountain near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Friday, July 17, 2020. (Photo by Mulugeta Ayene/AP Photo)