Twenty years. That's how long Joel Sartore has been on a mission, camera in hand, to photograph every animal species on Earth before they vanish. And now, his monumental Photo Ark project has officially clicked past 18,000 species. Let that satisfying number sink in.
Sartore, a National Geographic photographer, believes the 18,000th subject was the critically endangered red handfish. Imagine a fish that looks perpetually annoyed, painted in vibrant red, and living its best (and very precarious) life off the coast of Australia. This particular finned curmudgeon needs all the attention it can get, and now it's got a milestone attached to its name.
Just to keep things interesting, right after hitting this two-decade, 18,000-species mark, Sartore found his next subject. Not in a remote jungle or deep ocean trench, but on his own screen door in Nebraska. A tiny moth, carefully captured in a cup, is now awaiting identification by insect experts. Because apparently, that's where we are now: global conservation efforts starting on your porch.
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Start Your News DetoxHis photographic quest takes him to zoos, aquariums, and even pet shops. He's joined "bioblitzes" — basically, scientific speed-dating for species — and documented life in a cave in Kenya and along stream samplings in the Tennessee Valley. From the ridiculously rare to the surprisingly mundane, if it has a heartbeat (or at least, the biological equivalent), Sartore is probably trying to get its good side. All to make sure we don't forget them.
