Buyan, a male Siberian brown bear, cools down under a stream of water sprayed by an employee in an enclosure on a hot summer day, at the Royev Ruchey zoo in Krasnoyarsk, Russia on June 14, 2019. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

Visitors look at an elephant swimming in a pool at Khao Kheow Zoo in Chonburi, east of Bangkok, Thailand on February 4, 2020. (Photo by Chaiwat Subprasom/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

A baby orangutan called Barney shows off his dancing at Ragunan Zoo in Jakarta, Indonesia in the first decade of November 2023. (Photo by Syahrul Ramadan/Media Drum Images)

A captive elephant is made to swim for visitors at Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi province, Thailand on September 15, 2024. (Photo by Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP Photo)

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 undated handout image courtesy of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance shows “Pat”, a Pacific pocket mouse fondly named after actor Sir Patrick Stewart. A mouse named after “Star Trek” actor Patrick Stewart is officially the world's oldest in captivity, a US zoo has announced Pat the Pacific Pocket Mouse – the smallest species of mouse in North America – bagged the title when he hit nine years and 209 days old on February 8, 2023. (Photo by Ken Bohn/San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance via AFP Photo)

A grizzly bear eats a frozen fruits during a hot summer day at Rio de Janeiro's zoo January 13, 2015. According to a local climate institute, temperatures in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday rose up to 34 degrees Celsius (93.2 degrees Fahrenheit). (Photo by Sergio Moraes/Reuters)

Two fourteen-week old lion cubs, a male named Ramzes and a female named Zara, are seen during a Christening ceremony at the Bojnice Zoo April 4, 2015. The two cubs are Barbary lions (Panthera leo leo), local media reported. (Photo by Radovan Stoklasa/Reuters)