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)

Azerbaijan's Mariya Stadnik (R) wrestles Mongolia's Otgonjargal Dolgorjav (L) in their women's freestyle 50kg wrestling quarter-final match at the Champ-de-Mars Arena during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Paris on August 6, 2024. (Photo by Punit Paranjpe/AFP Photo)

A visitor takes in a view of the downtown district from Twin Peaks on Friday, January 9, 2015, in San Francisco. (Photo by Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo)

A park worker holds a monitor lizard at Lumpini park in Bangkok, Thailand, September 20, 2016. More than 400 of the Monitor lizards in the park will be caught by Thai authorities to relocate the reptile to a wildlife breeding center in the effort to control the creature population in the public park after the monitor lizard disturbing and causing several minor accident of people who jogging and cycling at the Lumpini Park. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

Women breastfeed their babies at an event promoting the freedom of mothers to breastfeed in public, during World Breastfeeding Week, at the Village Museum in Bucharest Romania, Saturday, August 6, 2016. (Photo by Andreea Alexandru/AP Photo)

Budgies feed on seeds from a local visitor's hands at Ocean Park in metro Manila, Philippines September 10, 2016. (Photo by Romeo Ranoco/Reuters)

An elderly woman plays an accordion in Moscow, Russia on October 3, 2017. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)

In 2013, the United Nations General Assembly officially designated November 19 as World Toilet Day, which is coordinated by UN-Water in collaboration with governments and partners. Here: An open-air toilet and a hot spring shower are seen in the middle of nowhere on the road to the Krafla geothermal power station and lava fields, near Reykjahlid and Lake Myvatn in northeastern Iceland, on August 19, 2012. (Photo by Mariana Suarez/AFP Photo)