NATIONAL Geographic is putting the world’s most vulnerable animals on display in a series of powerful and striking portraits.
The publication’s poignant feature, Photo Ark, is vital as one million species are already on their way to extinction, warns a recent government report.
A gray woolly monkey: this young, malnourished woolly monkey from Brazil was raised as a pet. When she was captured, her mother was likely killed. Environmental police rescued her, and she’s been treated, but she’ll need to live in captivity the rest of her lifeJoel Sartore / National Geographic Photo ArkNo trace of the wild South China tiger, Panthera tigris amoyensis, has been seen for more than a decade. Zoos hold fewer than 200 in breeding programmes. If a Chinese plan to return some to the wild fails, they could become the fourth subspecies of tiger to go extinctJoel SartoreA pair of endangered red panda cubs, photographed at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo in Lincoln, NebraskaPhotograph by Joel Sartore / National Geographic Photo Ark
These images are from the October 2019 issue of National Geographic, and the book, The Photo Ark Vanishing: The World’s Most Vulnerable Animals.
The National Geographic Photo Ark is led by photographer Joel Sartore, and aims to save wildlife by supporting on-the-ground conservation efforts.
Sartore has photographed nearly 10,000 animals – making studio portraits of animals in captivity – to “get the public to care about the extinction crisis while there’s still time”.
This ambitious project also aims to “capture for posterity species that someday might be extinct.
Asian elephant, Elephas maximus: early in the 20th century, about 100,000 elephants roamed across Asia. Since then, their population is believed to have been cut in half. They’re killed not just for their ivory tusks but also for their meat and hides – and sometimes in retaliation for the damage they do to cropsJoel Sartore / National Geographic Photo ArkCritically endangered Sumatran Rhino: photographed at White Oak Conservation Center in Yulee, Florida. The National Geographic Society has joined an alliance, Sumatran Rhino Rescue, to relocate rhinos and build facilities for their care and breeding to help bring the species back from the brink of extinctionJoel Sartore / National Geographic Photo ArkSumatran orangutan, Pongo abelii, pictured at Rolling Hills Zoo in Kansas, US. Habitat loss which is driven primarily by human expansion, as we develop land for housing, agriculture and commerce, is the biggest threat facing most animal species, followed by hunting and fishing. Even when habitat is not lost entirely, it may be changed so much that animals cannot adaptJoel Sartore / National Geographic Photo ArkAbove: Diademed sifaka, Propithecus diadema – females may only be fertile for one day a year, limiting this lemur’s ability to rebuild fragmented populations. Photographed at Lemur Island in MadagascarJoel Sartore / National Geographic Photo Ark
“To reflect the project’s life-preserving mission, Sartore named it Photo Ark,” says National Geographic.
Asked about one of the most memorable species to have become extinct over more than a decade of work, Sartore told the publication: “I’d say the Rabbs’ fringe-limbed tree frog.
“A few years ago, there was one left alive, a male, at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
“He was a total sweetheart. I photographed him three times before he passed away [in 2016].”
The images are from the October 2019 issue of National Geographic, and the book, The Photo Ark Vanishing: The World’s Most Vulnerable AnimalsNational GeographicAs many as one million species are already on their way to extinction, says National GeographicNational Geographic
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