“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)

Two men fight in San Jose, Costa Rica, during the Women's Day on March 8, 2014. (Photo by Jeffrey Arguedas/EFE/SIPA Press)

Italian Air Force's aerobatic demonstration team, the Frecce Tricolori leave colourful vapour trails as they fly over the Altare della Patria monument on Republic Day (Festa della Repubblica) in Rome, Italy, 02 Jun 2017. The anniversary marks the founding of the Italian Republic in 1946. (Photo by Massimo Percossi/EPA)

An Iraqi Muslim woman walks past Christmas decorations for sale in the Shiite holy city of Najaf on December 17, 2015. (Photo by Haidar Hamdani/AFP Photo)

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Chinese aids activists hand out condoms in a subway train in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province on December 1, 2014. The World Health Organization issued a call to action to China on December 1, 2014 over HIV/AIDS as government figures said nearly half a million people are living with the disease or its precursor, with hundreds of thousands more thought to be undiagnosed. (Photo by AFP Photo)

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