Italian rider Eva Lechner competes in the women's elite race of the “Hotondcross” cyclocross, the competition's fourth stage of the DVV Trofee Cyclocross in Ronse, on December 14, 2019. (Photo by David Stockman/BELGA/AFP Photo)

A person dressed as an astronaut walks past a man stopping traffic on a pedestrian crossing outside the Sydney Exhibition Centre September 13, 2014 where the science-fiction convention called “Oz Comic-Con” is currently being held. The two-day convention showcases “pop culture”, and includes appearances by actors from science-fiction movies and television shows. (Photo by David Gray/Reuters)

“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 young girl gives a banana to a tamed baboon on the outskirts of Beira, Mozambique, Sunday, March, 31, 2019. Cholera cases among cyclone survivors in Mozambique have jumped to 271, authorities said. So far no cholera deaths have been confirmed. (Photo by Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP Photo)

In this handout photograph received from Sumukha J.N on December 15, 2016, the newly-discovered spider Eriovixia Gryffindori sits on a leaf in the Kans in India's Western Ghats. (Photo by Sumukha J.N./AFP Photo)

Poppy, a female Crowned sifaka, inspects a photographer's camera in the enclosure at the zoo of Mulhouse, eastern France, on March 5, 2019. The Crowned sifaka is a critically endangered species from Madagascar. (Photo by Sebastien Bozon/AFP Photo)

Colombia' s Caterine Ibarguen competes in the women' s long jump during the 2018 IAAF Birmingham Diamond League athletics meeting at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on August 18, 2018. (Photo by Peter Cziborra/Action Images via Reuters)

Cast membe, Japanese actress Aoi Yamada poses during a photocall for the film “Perfect Days” during the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 26, 2023. (Photo by Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters)