US photographer Joel Sartore is spending a decade taking portraits of the 12,000 species in captivity worldwide – with an emphasis on those facing extinction

As the world goes through what scientists have called its “sixth great extinction”, with animal species vanishing at a rate unheralded since the dinosaurs were wiped out 66 million years ago, the sense of helplessness can be acute among those who revere nature.

Joel Sartore spent several years taking evocative photographs of endangered species for National Geographic before realising he needed to change tack if he was to drum up public concern about Earth’s diminishing wildlife.

“All I did was photograph animals in a natural habitat, which often looked great but, in terms of making a difference, didn’t really do anything,” he said. “But for some reason people have really got into Photo Ark . People relate to it in a way they wouldn’t get from shooting in the wild. It’s a better way of getting the public to care.”

Photo Ark is Sartore’s decade-long project to capture intimate portraits of the estimated 12,000 species in the world’s zoos and aquariums. So far, he’s up to 5,500, with a heavy focus on those in danger of dying out in the wild.

His approach is relatively simple – he places individual animals, or small groups, in front of stark white or black backgrounds, mimicking a classic studio shoot. The compelling eye contact of the animals, stripped of their habitats, has proved so popular that Sartore’s images have been projected on to the Empire State building and St Peter’s basilica.

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It is perhaps Sartore’s primates that hold the most attention. The stares of humans’ evolutionary cousins are piercing, whether it’s an orangutan glancing up while resting its rusty red chin on a hand or an over-the-shoulder look from a Celebes crested macaque.

Primate experts warned in November that half of the world’s apes, lemurs and monkeys faced extinction, with loss of their arboreal habitat, hunting and the illegal wildlife trade the primary threats.

Thousands of other species, including the pollinators and oxygen suppliers, such as plants and phytoplankton, that allow for humans to live on Earth, are also at risk, with the extinction rate accelerated up to 100 times by man’s impact. But primates move us in ways that few other species can. Saving them means protecting habitat that’s home to many other vulnerable species.

“Primates are fascinating. They are ambassadors for their environments,” said Jennifer Mickelberg, curator of primates at Atlanta zoo, Georgia, in the southern US, which has hosted Sartore for his portraits. “People may not get motivated to save a snake or an insect, but people can relate to primates. They inspire people to take action.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest An endangered golden-headed lion tamarin ( Leontopithecus chrysomelas) at the Dallas World Aquarium, Texas. © Photo by Joel Sartore/National Geographic Photo Ark

Needless to say, a primate’s natural environment isn’t an improvised photographic studio, which has made life difficult for Sartore at times. Backgrounds are painted or hung in cloth at zoos. Treats such as fruit hold the attention of the primates, while lighting cables are placed outside the set so as to not tempt curious hands.

“We tend to paint the backgrounds now because the cloth can get torn down,” Sartore said. “The larger primates have less to fear in the world, so they are more calm. The gorillas and bonobos were OK, the baboons were pretty good too. But when the food is finished, the shoot is over.

“The small monkeys move quickly, like birds. They are very interested in the camera, it’s hard to keep them away from it. They are so interested in their own reflection that they fog up the lens with their noses.”

Some of the images look stylishly posed, such as a pair of perfectly placed Gee’s golden langurs or a couple of gibbons that appear to be jumping in synchronicity. But Sartore insists the framing is mostly a matter of luck.

“The animals aren’t looking at me much, they are looking for food,” he said. “They may look like they are posing as steadfastly as a human but they aren’t trained. They look at me a couple of times in five minutes. The best shot usually stands out quite clearly.”

A notable absentee from Sartore’s collection is the chimpanzee. An early attempt backfired badly when the chimps tore down the background and retreated. “It was kind of depressing,” he said. “The chimps were having a great time, they were laughing at me. It shows I don’t always win. I’ll find the right chimp one day.”

Joel Sartore’s lecture about photographing endangered wildlife.

Public awareness generated by Sartore’s pictures does, of course, need to translate into effective conservation if threatened primates are to survive.

Indonesian forests cannot continue to be razed for palm oil and timber at current rates if we want to keep orangutans. Small, new-world monkeys are threatened by clearing the Amazon for agriculture. The mountain gorillas of central Africa are being hemmed in by an increasing human population, bushmeat hunters and even the threat of oil drilling.

But there cannot be too many reminders of the majestic, curious relatives that we risk losing forever in the wild.

“People need to put real value on wildlife,” said Mickelberg. “Discovering that connectivity between us and them is important. What Joel is doing is remarkable for species. We are going to see extinctions, without a doubt, but all of us are working hard to mitigate those threats. I’m hopeful, but I have to be realistic too.”

Sartore expects Photo Ark to occupy him for a few more years. He will not be sparing us the unflinching stares until he documents each captive species.

“Once you look an animal in the eye, it eliminates all distractions,” he said. “Putting them in that setting is quite an equaliser. You can’t compare size, so a mouse is every bit as magnificent as a polar bear.

“The old saying that eyes are the window to the soul is so true. It’s important we don’t see animals as foreign but very much like us. If they go, so will we.”