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)

A tiger jumps while being trained at the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi province, west of Bangkok, Thailand, February 25, 2016. Thailand's controversial Tiger Temple, dogged for years by talk that it supplies the black market and mistreats its animals, is fighting to keep the big cats after wildlife authorities rejected a bid to extend a zoo licence that expired in 2013. The Buddhist temple, home to more than 100 tigers, has been investigated for suspected links to wildlife trafficking and wildlife activists have accused it of illegal breeding of the animals. Thai wildlife authorities have sent ten of the temple's tigers to a wildlife sanctuary. But the temple, which bills itself as a wildlife sanctuary, has denied links to illegal trafficking, and wants to hold on to its tigers. (Photo by Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters)

Water pools on top of a water lily leaf after rain at Benchakitti Forest Park in Bangkok, Thailand on September 27, 2023. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

A man shelters from the rain with plastic bags, at a market in Tembisa, east of Johannesburg, South Africa, Monday, March 23, 2020. South Africa, Africa's most industralized economy and a nation of 57 million people, will to go into a nationwide lockdown for 21 days from Thursday to fight the spread of the new coronavirus. (Photo by Themba Hadebe/AP Photo)

An artist gets ready backstage to perform an Indian art form of dance called “Ottamthullal” at the annual eight-day long Vrischikolsavam festival, which features a colourful procession of decorated elephants along with drum and trumpets concerts, at Sree Poornathrayeesa temple in Kochi, India, December 7, 2018. (Photo by Sivaram V/Reuters)

“The Tibetan Mastiff also known as Do-khyi (variously translated as “home guard”, “door guard”, “dog which may be tied”, “dog which may be kept”), reflects its use as a guardian of herds, flocks, tents, villages, monasteries, and palaces, much as the old English ban-dog (also meaning tied dog) was a dog tied outside the home as a guardian. However, in nomad camps and in villages, the Do-khyi is traditionally allowed to run loose at night and woe be unto the stranger who walks abroad after dark”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A man displays a Tibetan Mastiff he raised during the Tibetan Mastiff exposition on April 7, 2007 in Langfang of Hebei Province, China. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

Lindsay Heimbach goes airborne while sledding down a hill on Mt. Lemmon December 27, 2008. (Photo by James Gregg/Arizona Daily Star)

A Haitian National Police officer guards a street in the Petion-Ville neighborhood almost a week after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on July 13, 2021. (Photo by Ricardo Arduengo/Reuters)