An Iranian girl wearing a costume inspired in the fictional folklore character Hajji Firuz, dances in Tehran on March 17, 2021 as Iranians prepare to celebrate Noruz, the Iranian New Year. Noruz, “new day” in Persian, is the New Year festivity celebrated in Iran as well as in Afghanistan and Kurdish regions in several countries. It begins with the spring equinox and symbolises rebirth. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP Photo)

Pink flamingos are silhouetted and reflected in water at sunset in the Camargue regional natural park in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, Southern France, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by Manon Cruz/Reuters)

A brick factory workers stack bricks on carts in Dhaka, Bangladesh, January 9, 2019. (Photo by Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters)

In this September 30, 2017 photo, people perform “transvestite target practice” to protest the killings of transvestite prostitutes during the annual LGBQT march in Asuncion, Paraguay. Advocacy groups fear the stigma and attacks against the LGBQT community could get worse now that the country's education minister has banned classes about sexual diversity in schools and even volunteered to help burn all books related to the subject. (Photo by Jorge Saenz/AP Photo)

Women pose for a selfie in a lavender field at Hitchin Lavender farm in Ickleford, Britain, August 4, 2020. (Photo by Peter Cziborra/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 Harley Davidson biker is dressed as Santa Claus as he takes part in a charity ride in Zurich, Switzerland December 6, 2015. (Photo by Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)

A folk performer (front R) with make-up and props takes part in a “Blood Shehuo” parade, during a performance in Linyi county, Shanxi province March 21, 2015. “Shehuo” is the common name of Chinese traditional activities consisting of folk performances in northern China. The “Blood Shehuo” performers use make-up and props to re-enact scenes of horror in classic Chinese novels like Water Margin. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)