“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)

An attendee tries Acton's RocketSkates at the 2015 International CES at the Sands Expo and Convention Center on January 6, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The motorized skates that you strap to your shoes are powered by Lithium Ion batteries and can go up to 12 mph. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

A glass skywalk in Wanyuan, Sichuan province, built along the side of a cliff, is the highest such skywalk anywhere in China on January 31, 2017. Some visitors have been proven to be terrified by the experience had to brace against the wall in fear. (Photo by Chinanew.com/AsiaWire)

Dogs and their owners wearing all types of colorful costumes participate in the Elizabeth Street Garden Halloween Pet Parade on November 4, 2023 in New York City. The parade was posponed from October dur to bad weather. (Photo by Andrew Schwartz/Splash News and Pictures)

People look out at the city among 30,375 square feet of mirrors at SUMMIT One Vanderbilt in New York on May 22, 2024. The Parade of Ships is seen from SUMMIT One Vanderbilt in NYC as part of the Fleet Week Celebration events. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP Photo)

The photographer holds up a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet at the Samsung hall at the IFA 2011 consumer electonics and appliances fair the day before the fair's official opening on September 1, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. The IFA 2011 will be open to the public from September 2-7. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

A supercell that spawned a tornado earlier makes it was east north of McLean, Texas on April 16, 2015 in Texas, United States. Huge hail, terrifying lighting and giant supercells the size of buildings – these incredible images depict a year in the life of a storm chaser. Shot in 2015 by photographer Mike Olbinski, 40, this series of pictures show both the beautiful and the extreme nature of weather in the United States. (Photo by Mike Olbinski/Barcroft Media)

Cassandra Cantu shields her 7-week-old puppy Kamala from the snow as she walks with friends in the Bear Creek Dog Park in Colorado Springs, Colo., Sunday, May 11, 2014. A spring storm that has brought over a foot of snow to parts of Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska and thunderstorms and tornadoes to the Midwest was slowing down travelers and left some without power Monday morning. (Photo by Mark Reis/AP Photo/The Gazette)