Anyone who uses social media daily has almost certainly seen enough adorable animal photos to last a lifetime.
Animal photos are not just pretty pictures. According to one veteran wildlife photographer, they may be the secret to "saving the planet."
Joel Sartore said he's taken about 11,000 of his unusual animal portraits in the last 16 years while unloading his camera gear at Utah's Hogle Zoo.
His "Photo Ark" initiative aims to capture photos of an animal currently being cared for by humans, worldwide. In zoos, aquariums, and other private buildings, he says there are between 15,000 and 17,000 animals, all of which are fair game for his camera and the project.
"From elephants to ants, we photograph rare and common species, big and small."
It's all part of Sartore's 25-year dream to save thousands of animal portraits from extinction by storing them in a metaphorical ark.
"The Photo Ark's mission is to become a nature ad campaign," he said, "to have people excited about what they can do to help save the planet."
Related Article: Animals That Went Extinct In 2020 (and some that might disappear in 2021)
Photoshoot at Hogle Zoo
His first subject at the Hogle Zoo was a rare animal known as the hyrax. The African native is around the height of a chihuahua and resembles a fuzzy woodchuck or a very fat squirrel at first sight.
In his hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska, National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore created the Photo Ark in 2006. In his journey to build this photo archive of global biodiversity, he has visited more than 50 countries and photographed over 11,000 animals.
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