Participants kiss on a platform as they take part in the annual event “No Trousers Tube Ride” in London, Sunday, January 8, 2023. The No Trousers Tube Ride returns to London, the first time the event had taken place since January 2020, due to Covid. (Photo by Kin Cheung/AP Photo)

A Midshipmen from the Naval Academy eyes the Navy mascot behind her before the first half of the the 125th Army-Navy game at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, on December 14, 2024. (Photo by Danny Wild/USA TODAY Sports)

“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)

“Red Pepperpion. Red Pepperpions are secretive, nocturnal arachilli which can be spotted in kitchens of arid climates all around the world.

Red Pepperpions are equipped with a delicious (and depending on the quantity...deadly!) stinger at the end of its tail. If you happen to get bitten (or if you bite him!) it will produce a burning sensation on your taste nerves.

However, there is no need to worry, since the fact is that his potent stinger is usually only used when hunting or whenever the Pepperpion feels like he might become part of someones meal...

At daylight or when encountering a larger foe, such as a Saucier Chef, they retreat into burrows inside the fridge or hide beneath the oven”. (Photo and comment by Vanessa Dualib)

Kristina Elekes, 23, races on her ski during the Bikini Race contest held at Arena Platos Paltinis winter resort, near Sibiu city, 275 Km north from Bucharest, Romania, 06 March 2016. Bikini Race is a timed show on the slopes, at the fourth edition, for women dressed only in swimmsuits and some winter accessories. (Photo by Mihaela Bobar/EPA)

Dancers wearing masks and kimonos perform in the streets at the “Super Yosakoi 2015” dance festival in Tokyo on August 30, 2015. One hundred dance teams with some 5,500 people participated in the two-day summer festival event. (Photo by Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP Photo)

A girl looks out of a car at a checkpoint set up by Venezuelan security forces in Taguanes, Venezuela, February 21, 2019. (Photo by Andres Martinez Casares/Reuters)