Two stags fight in a wildlife park in Aurach near Kitzbuehel, in the Austrian province of Tyrol. (Photo by Kerstin Joensson/Associated Press)

“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)

A visitor holds an Israeli-made rifle during the 8th International Land and Naval Defense system exhibition, in New Delhi, India, on February 6, 2014. (Photo by Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters)

A man covered in motor oil, poses for a picture next to a girl dress a traditional clothes during a festivities in honor of Santo Domingo de Guzman in Managua, Nicaragua, Saturday, August 1, 2015. Some of the faithful coat their bodies in a black motor oil, red paint and wear traditional clothes as a promise for a prayer or miracle they believe was performed or answered by Managua's patron saint, Santo Domingo de Guzman. (Photo by Esteban Felix/AP Photo)

People feed the birds in Battery Park in the Manhattan borough of New York, December 18, 2014. Hart has been feeding the birds three times a week for the last three years. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

Galveston resident Charlotte, 12, photographs her two-year-old beagle Sunny who reacts to high wind ahead of Hurricane Laura in Galveston, Texas, U.S., August 26, 2020. (Photo by Adrees Latif/Reuters)

In this photo taken Saturday, September 23, 2017, a mouse is cooked on a fire after being caught in a cornfield in Chidza, Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe. Considered a delicacy, the field mice are hunted in cornfields where they have grown plump on the grains, grass and wild fruits. (Photo by Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP Photo)

Waxworks artists retouch the wax figures at the unveiling of Little Mix waxwork figures at Madame Tussauds, in London, Britain, July 28, 2021. (Photo by Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty Images)