A long skater speeds away on the rain-wet ice on lake Orlangen, South of Stockholm on December 15, 2013. Meteorologists forecast temperatures around 5 degrees for southern Sweden. (Photo by Tobias Rostlund/AFP Photo)

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“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)

“Show Time”. It's a normal behavior of mantis. They're doing defence. When they're afraid of; raising their arms and spreading their wings. They looks like smiling dancer. Photo location: Nicosia, Cyprus. (Photo and caption by Hasan Baglar/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Wingsuit flyer contestant Melissa Pemberton of the U.S. jumps off a mountain at Tianmen Mountain National Park in Zhangjiajie, Hunan province October 19, 2014. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

A recruitment drive during the First World War at Trafalgar Square, London. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

Workers install a monument inside Beirut port as a remembrance for the victims of the 04 August harbor blast in Beirut, Lebanon, 27 July 2021. A massive blast on 04 August 2020 rocked Beirut's port in which at least 200 people were killed and more than 6,000 injured, believed to have been caused by an estimated 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse, devastated the port area of Beirut and several parts of the city. (Photo by Wael Hamzeh/EPA/EFE)

A Nepalese woman offers prayers to the setting Sun on the bank of Bagmati River during the Chhath Puja festival in Kathmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, November 10, 2021. During Chhath, an ancient Hindu festival, rituals are performed to thank the Sun God for sustaining life on earth. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)

Newlyweds pose on a zebra crossing for wedding photographers during the 2018 soccer World Cup in Samara, Russia, Sunday, July 8, 2018. (Photo by Frank Augstein/AP Photo)