National Geographic Photo Ark Wonders: Celebrating Diversity

National Geographic Photo Ark Wonders: Celebrating Diversity in the Animal Kingdom by Joel Sartore
10/19/21; 400 pages
National Geographic

National Geographic Photo Ark Wonders: Celebrating Diversity in the Animal Kingdom by Joel Sartore is a very highly recommended collection of gorgeous photographs from the animal kingdom. During his long career, Joel Sartore set out to photograph every kind of creature. He has now amazingly captured the images of more than 11,000 of 20,000 species across the world. In this latest collection he shares 462 of his photographs, in one or two page spreads. Each photograph has the scientifically accurate name along with interesting information and/or distinctive features. Sartore also recalls interesting stories and adventures resulting from his photographic journeys.

A great example of what you can find in this latest edition of National Geographic Photo Ark Wonders is on 100-101. The photograph is of the Egyptian fruit bat, Rousettus aegyptiacus(LC). "Roosting by the dozens or the thousands, these bats are found across Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Eastern Mediterranean to northern India. After breeding season, females gather in nursing colonies to give birth to and rear their pups, while males form bachelor colonies elsewhere." On the page is also the story about an incident of "wet contact" Sartore experienced while taking photographs that could have potentially resulted in being infected with the Marburg virus. Thankfully, after quarantining for 3 weeks, there was no sign of infection.

The collection is broadly presented in four chapters: Pattern, Shape, Extra, and Attitude. As mentioned, most of the pages are of single animals but along with individual photographs there are several pages that feature collections of a similar group. These include mice, caterpillars, snakes, beetles, crabs, sea urchins, scorpions, snakes, parrots, and others. There are also unique pairings  such as a Western screech owl (pg. 358) and an Ocelot (pg. 359) both winking and a hippopotamus (pg. 330) and a Northern Luzon cloud rat (pg. 331) who both have their mouths wide open. The index of animals at the back are listed by the page on which they appear, with the listed divided by the chapter name.

I tried to pick out a few individual pictures that I loved, but it was simple too difficult to pair the list down. (In the running: The Sand Cat, pg 4-5; Barred eagle-owl, pg 48; veiled chameleon tail, pg 119; Brazilian Porcupine, pg. 249; and the Proboscis monkey, pg. 253.) Previous photo ark collections include: National Geographic Photo Ark, Birds of the Photo Ark, and Photo Ark Vanishing. National Geographic Photo Ark Wonders: Celebrating Diversity in the Animal Kingdom would make a wonderful, thoughtful gift.

Disclosure: I received an advanced reading copy of this book from National Geographic for TLC Book Tours. 

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