A gosling sits in the plumage of its mother, in a meadow in Frankfurt, Germany, Saturday, April 13, 2024. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

A woman carries water during during a visit by a European Union delegation, at an IDP camp in Azaza, east of Ad Damazin, capital of Blue Nile state, October 21, 2015. The camp houses people displaced by war between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) rebels and the Sudanese government. (Photo by Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/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)

The Malabar Giant squirrel – double the size of their grey relatives and measuring up to 36 inches (91.5 cm) from head to tail – lives deep in the forests of India. The athletic animals can leap an incredible 20 feet (6 m) between trees. Photographer Kaushik Vijayan, 39, snapped the animals in their native habit to produce these stunning images. Kaushik, from Kerala State, India, said: “Up until that point I had never heard about a squirrel like that or seen one. The sight was an absolute feast for my eyes. The squirrels fascinated me and I got excited to capture this beauty on my camera”. (Photo by Kaushik Vijayan/South West News Service)

Snow and ice adorn trees in Ovacık district, Turkey on February 20, 2020. The country has been experiencing heavy snowfall this month. (Photo by Sidar Can Eren/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Michael Pankratz’s intriguing works focus specifically on the feet of tarantulas – an appendage that many have perhaps never focused on. The extreme close-ups of tarantulas’ “paws” show fine, colourful hairs, and sharp claws. Here: Brachypelma albopilosum, foot detail. (Photo by Michael Pankratz/Caters News Agency)

Camera trapper Xavier Hubert-Brierre put this large mirror on the side of a road through the jungle in Gabon and left a camera there to record how the animals would respond to their own reflections. A silverback gorilla thought it was seeing another silverback and responded by trying to scare off the potential challenger… (Photo by Xavier Hubert-Brierre/Johns Hopkins University Press)