National Geographic Photo Ark Wonders: Celebrating Diversity in the Animal Kingdom

by Joel Sartore

Overview

A glorious new volume of Sartore’s signature animal portraits, this time highlighting the fascinating shapes, patterns, and expressions of animals both familiar and little known.
Joel Sartore, on a mission to photograph all the animal species in human care, now delights us with more photographs, this time selected to represent the amazing diversity of the world’s animals.
The book’s four chapters — Pattern, Shape, Extra, and Personality — invite us to revel in these photographs, many cleverly paired into amusing and often surprising comparisons, like the catfish and the mouse with the same stripes down their backs, the tarantula and the poison dart frog both cobalt blue, or the tiny lizard and the weighty ox both sporting pointed horns.

• Each photograph gets its own page or two-page spread.
• Scientifically accurate captions highlight distinctive features.
• Throughout, Sartore recalls telling moments from his photographic adventures.

With all new image selections, this book expands the best-selling Photo Ark series, sure to be a hit with those who already treasure National Geographic Photo Ark, Birds of the Photo Ark, and Photo Ark Vanishing.
Animal lovers young and old will get lost in the pages of this book, delighted by the spectacular diversity among these creatures and the wit of the photographer chronicling them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781426221910
Publisher:	National Geographic
Publication date:	10/19/2021
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	14,217
Product dimensions:	9.90(w) x 9.80(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Award-winning photographer and regular contributor to National Geographic magazine, Joel Sartore is the founder of the National Geographic Photo Ark, a 25-year documentary project to fight global extinctions by photographing every animal species in human care. Sartore estimates the total to be 13,000; to date he has photographed more than 10,000. Known for his sense of humor and midwestern work ethic, he travels the world to find new animals but is always happy to come home to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he lives with his wife, Kathy, and their three children. Web: joelsartore.com. Instagram: joelsartore. Facebook: Joel Sartore, photographer. Twitter: @joelsartore

Editorial Reviews

About the Photo Ark:
"Joel Sartore is an ambassador extraordinaire for the beleaguered animals of our planet and should receive a Nobel Prize. No one can look at these sensitive portraits of the incredible animal beings and not be amazed and inspired to do all in our power to preserve them—all of them, all the complex tapestry of life—for our children and theirs. I can think of no other book with such a compelling message: We must each do all that we can to preserve these incredible beings—all of them. And we must act now, or it will be too late for most of them."—Jane Goodall

From the Publisher

★ 01/01/2022

Longtime National Geographic photographer Sartore presents another stunning installment in his "Photo Ark" project (following The Photo Ark Vanishing), which is a bid to capture the approximately 20,000 species in zoos, aquariums, and wildlife sanctuaries worldwide and to bring attention to the importance of conservation. He's photographed more than 11,000 animals so far (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, invertebrates); this particular volume features 462 species. Sartore introduces it by explaining the project's origins and his family's involvement; text is brief throughout. The portraits are organized into four chapters: "Silhouette" (creatures with notable shapes); "Pattern" (animals with interesting markings); "Going to Extremes" (animals with unusual attributes, like the guereza, a monkey with a tail longer than its body); and "Attitude" (often-anthropomorphized creatures, like the "famously ornery" cassowary). Though the set-ups are uniform—animals are photographed against a white or black background—the overall effect is one of startling variety. Clever pairings across pages accentuate similarities and differences. Stunning facial close-ups, contrasts in focal depth, and bold, out-of-frame experiments ensure a "wow!" response on nearly every page. Sartore eschews size comparisons—here, a millipede is as large as an antelope—which underlines his message that every species is important and each is uniquely beautiful. VERDICT "I want people to care," says Sartore, "to fall in love, and to take action." Mission accomplished. An essential purchase for most collections.—Robert Eagan

Library Journal