“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)

“Originally published in the April 9, 1951, issue of LIFE magazine, W. Eugene Smith’s photo essay, «Spanish Village», has been lauded for more than six decades as the most moving photographic portrait ever made of daily life in rural Spain during the rule of dictator Francisco Franco”. – Time & Life Pictures. Photo: His wife, daughter, granddaughter and friends have their last earthly visit with a villager. (Photo by W. Eugene Smith/Time & Life Pictures)

May Matthews (left) and Romy Clark from Bonhams Edinburgh carry a carved wooden model of an Atlantic Salmon by Rogers Brookes (estimate £1,500-2,000) during a photo call for the upcoming Home and Interiors sale, and Sporting and Wildlife sale, at Bonhams, Edinburgh, on September 16, 2020. (Photo by Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)

Russian people walk during heavy rain in Moscow, Russia on 17 September 2020. Over two hours a third of the monthly average rainfall fell in Moscow. (Photo by Yuri Kochetkov/EPA/EFE)

Daredevil motorcycle rider Captain Shivam Singh (C) from the “Tornadoes” motorcycle acrobatic team of the Indian Armed Forces comes out ablaze after catching fire while riding his bike through a tunnel of fire during an attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Records in Bangalore on November 10, 2020. Shivam Singh broke the Guinness Book of World Records passing 127 m and escaped with minor injuries. (Photo by Manjunath Kiran/AFP Photo)

A GDR Trabant car drives through the city during the local coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown in Dresden, Germany, December 14, 2020. (Photo by Matthias Rietschel/Reuters)

A robot used to assist Covid-19 patients is seen in an elevator on December 5, 2020 in New Delhi, India. The “Mitra” robot can connect patients with their loved ones, and can assist healthcare workers on the frontlines of the pandemic by minimisng the risk of infections caused by close contact. The Yatharth Hospital, which is treating Covid-19 patients in Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, is one of a handful of hospitals in India that has started to use robots. (Photo by Anindito Mukherjee/Getty Images)

Trialist Pavel Prikhodko attempts to pull an An-2 plane as a cat walks nearby during a charity event near the village of Tatarka in Stavropol Region, Russia on December 27, 2020. (Photo by Eduard Korniyenko/Reuters)