Young women walk through the cave of Saint George during Ashenda festival, at Saint George Church, in Lalibela, Ethiopia, on August 22, 2022. (Photo by Amanuel Sileshi/AFP Photo)

A girl walks along rice paddy fields during “National Paddy Day”, which marks the start of the annual rice planting season, in Tokha village on the outskirts of Kathmandu on June 29, 2020. Splashing mud and drinking local rice beer, Nepali farmers this week celebrated National Paddy Day to mark the beginning of the rice-planting season, despite some coronavirus lockdown measures still in place. Traditional farming songs and laughter echoed in the air as farmers waded into waterlogged fields to sow green paddy. (Photo by Prakash Mathema/AFP Photo)

A protester shouts anti-American slogans while holding a tire to be added to a burning barricade during a protest against the government's request for an international military force, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, October 21, 2022. (Photo by Joseph Odelyn/AP Photo)

A United Launch Alliance Delta IV heavy rocket carrying classified spy satellite cargo for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office lifts off from Space Launch Complex 37B at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. This is the final flight of a Delta IV heavy rocket. (Photo by John Raoux/AP Photo)

A Palestinian fisherman casts his net as he stands along the beach in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on June 14, 2019. The Israeli government said late on June 12 that the fishing zone off the coast of Gaza had been closed, in retaliation for the launch of incendiary balloons from the Palestinian enclave. The move came after COGAT said on Tuesday it had reduced the extent of the fishing zone to six nautical miles offshore from 10 nautical miles, having downscaled it from 15 nautical miles a week ago. (Photo by Said Khatib/AFP Photo)

An emu runs to escape an approaching wildfire as it burns near Potero, California, U.S. June 20, 2016. (Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters)

A performer takes part in the annual street parade, which is part of the Carnival of Cultures celebrating the multi-ethnic diversity of the city, in Berlin, Germany on May 20, 2018. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/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)