A cheerleader for the Virginia Cavaliers men’s basketball team on court during a timeout against the Texas A&M Aggies at John Paul Jones Arena in Virginia, US on November 29, 2023. (Photo by Geoff Burke/USA Today Sports)

A Ukrainian serviceman of the 47th “Magura” Separate Mechanized Brigade plays with a cat, which his unit evacuated from a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at undisclosed location in Donetsk region, Ukraine on February 8, 2024. (Photo by Alina Smutko/Reuters)

American media personality and socialite Kylie Jenner in the last decade of October 2024 strips off to recreate Demi Moore's famous Striptease scene. (Photo by Greg Swales)

Seven-year-old Ruby Macis explores the stunning sunflower field at Balgone Estate, East Lothian, UK on August 6 2024, which prepares to open to the public for the second year this week with quarter of a million sunflowers over seven acres. (Photo by South West News Service)

Train attendants take part in a parade training as they visit the national flag guard during a patriotic education event ahead of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Beijing, China July 25, 2017. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)

Chinese special policemen rank in a line of battle during an anti-terror drill at a training base of Chengdu Armed Police Headquarters on September 28, 2005 in Chengdu of Sichuan Province, China. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

The Doppler on Wheels (DOW) vehicle scans a supercell thunderstorm during a tornado research mission, May 8, 2017 in Elbert County near Agate, Colorado. Doppler on Wheels (DOW) is a mobile doppler radar mounted on a truck that brings instruments directly into storms, allowing scientists to scan storms and tornadoes and make 3-D maps of wind and debris. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

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)