The National Geographic Photo Ark is a travelling exhibition of photographer Joel Sartore’s quest to create a photo archive of biodiversity around the world. So far, Sartore has captured studio portraits of more than 6,000 species – a number that he hopes to double. On 1 July, the ark will open at Melbourne zoo – the first time it has been exhibited in the southern hemisphere. More than 50 portraits will be on display, including many of Australian endangered animals being protected by programs at the zoo itself. These captions have been edited from text supplied by Melbourne zoo. Here: Barking owl. (Photo by Joel Sartore/National Geographic Photo Ark/The Guardian)

This handout photograph taken and released by the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation on April 17, 2024, shows Mount Ruang spewing hot lava and smoke as seen from Sitaro, North Sulawesi. A volcano erupted several times in Indonesia's outermost region overnight on April 17, forcing hundreds of people to be evacuated after it spewed lava and a column of smoke more than a mile into the sky. (Photo by Handout/Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation via AFP Photo)

A family member of a torch relay runner wearing a protective mask uses a portable electric fan to cool down as she attends a torch kiss event during Tokyo 2020 Olympic torch relay celebration at Shinagawa Central Park in Tokyo, Japan, July 21, 2021. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)

“These are the mind-blowing artworks of one professor who has dedicated his professional life to studying and generating a series of dizzying optical illusions. Professor Akiyoshi Kitaoka, from Ritsumseikan University, in Kyoto, Japan, has spent more than a decade creating his collecting of stomach-churning works. His designs have been used by the likes of Lady Gaga, who ran the Kitaokas work, entitled Gangaze, as the CD cover for her album Art Pop, in 2013”. – Caters News. (Photo by Akiyoshi Kitaoka/Caters News)

“Keep On Trucking, Mr. Lynx!”. Canadian Lynx Study. (Photo by Josef)

The adventurous explorers have snapped themselves in shark-infested waters, at the side of an active volcano, atop a Hong Kong skyscraper surrounded by toxic smog, and even perched on the top of iconic Rio statue of Christ the Redeemer. Here: Ervin Punkar using a selfie stick to take a photo from the very top of the 600ft TV tower in Tartu, Estonia. (Photo by Ervin Punkar/Caters News Agency)

Ralph Mirebs, an urban explorer and photographer in Russia, has revealed extraordinary photos of Soviet space shuttle prototypes gathering dust in an abandoned hangar. The abandoned hangar is located at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which is still in operation today (with the close of NASA’s shuttle program, Russian Soyuz shuttles are the only way for astronauts to reach the International Space Station). The Buran prototype shuttles found by Mirebs, however, are from an earlier era – they are the last remnants of a space program that began in 1974 and was finally shuttered in 1993. (Photo by Ralph Mirebs/Exclusivepix Media)

Full length portrait of female skier, Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, USA. (Photo by Anatoliy Gleb/Getty Images)