A Cossack slashes a watermelon with a sabre during a sabre-cutting competition in the village of Novosvetlovsky, Rostov region, on August 27, 2023. (Photo by AFP Photo/Stringer)

A Palestinian youth practices his parkour skills at Shati refugee camp in Gaza City April 27, 2014. (Photo by Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

A Bangladeshi girl plays on a swing, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, December 27, 2016. (Photo by Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters)

Two girls in cosplay dresses walk in the street in Beijing on March 27, 2017. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)

A woman with an elaborate hat poses during Glastonbury Festival at Worthy farm in Somerset, Britain on June 27, 2019. (Photo by Henry Nicholls/Reuters)

British TV personality, “The Only Way Is Essex” star Yazmin Oukhellou, 27, in Dubai last decade of January 2022. (Photo by Instagram)

Revellers dance at a rave party in central Kyiv, Ukraine on August 27, 2022. (Photo by Vladyslav Musiienko/Reuters)

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)