Ambitious Journalist Attempts to Photograph 12,000 Endangered Animals Before They Become Extinct

Joe Sartore, a wildlife journalist and photographer for National Geographic, is on an ambitious mission to capture images of over 12,000 captive endangered animals, before each species is gone for good. The project, called Photo Ark, is ongoing and on a global scale.

Photo Ark is a multiyear National Geographic project with a simple goal—to create portraits of the world’s captive species before they disappear, and to inspire people everywhere to care. Currently the Photo Ark collection includes more than 5,000 species—but photographer Joel Sartore isn’t done. His goal is to document the world’s 12,000 captive species with the studio lighting and black and white backgrounds that give the collection its iconic look. The hope? To inspire millions around the world with the message that it’s not too late to save some of the planet’s most endangered species.

via Feature Shoot