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)

Kashmiri women walk in a garden covered with fallen Chinar leaves on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, November 4, 2020. Kashmiris collect fallen leaves in autumn to make charcoal for use during winters. (Photo by Dar Yasin/AP Photo)

A young girl from the Makonde ethnic group wearing earth makeup on her facen, a beauty symbol, carries a baby on her back as she poses for pictures in the community of Marupa, a relocation center for internally displaced families in the Chiure district, on February 23, 2021. Thousands of families from different districts of the Cabo Delgado province who have been displaced have been located by the government in different areas of the province. (Photo by Alfredo Zuniga/AFP Photo)

A flood affected boy on a makeshift banana raft collects biscuit packets distributed by a government official from a boat in Pokoria village, east of Gauhati, north eastern Assam state, India, Monday, August 14, 2017. Heavy monsoon rains have unleashed landslides and floods that killed dozens of people in recent days and displaced millions more across northern India, southern Nepal and Bangladesh. (Photo by Anupam Nath/AP Photo)

A sadhu, or a Hindu holy man, blesses a devotee as he smokes marijuana at a transit camp on the way to Gangasagar, in Kolkata, India, Sunday, January 7, 2018. Thousands of Hindu pilgrims are expected to take the annual holy dip at Gangasagar, where the Ganges River reaches the Bay of Bengal, on the auspicious Makar Sankranti festival day that falls on Jan. 14. (Photo by Bikas Das/AP Photo)

A person takes part in the annual LGBTQ+ Pride parade in Phuket, Thailand on June 4, 2023. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

A family rides a bike amid rain in Lahore on October 16, 2023. (Photo by Arif Ali/AFP Photo)

A woman walks between Christmas trees at a Christmas market opened prior to incoming Christmas and New Year festivities in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, December 15, 2023. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)