Project Ark catalogs nation's captive animals
Photographer visits US zoos, aquariums
If you have a favorite animal, chances are good that Joel Sartore has a great photo of it.
The National Geographic photographer has taken portraits of thousands of animals. His goal is to save them on film, and hopefully in the wild.
"That's my job is to tell the world about all these different creatures and tell their stories," said Sartore.
He's traveling the country taking photos of all the 6,000 animal species in captivity at U.S. zoos and aquariums.
"I've been at this about eight years, and I've got about 2,800 species so far out of the 6,000 that are captive, so I'm almost halfway there," Sartore said.
He's visiting Cincinnati Zoo as part of the Photo Ark.
"Zoos are actually arks now, they're modern-day arks," Sartore said. "They house species that don't exist anymore in the wild, and as we continue to spread out with 9 billion people next, a lot of the species in Asia are especially hard hit."
Sartore and his team catalog all the photos and post them online to help spur a passion for conservation.
He hopes that if people look into the animals' eyes, they'll want to work to help save them.
"I firmly believe that we will be able to save some of the species that I photograph, because most of them go unnoticed, and it just takes one person to care, to really be passionate about it and to dive in," Sartore said.
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