National Geographic Photo Ark Wonders: Celebrating Diversity in the Animal Kingdom by Joel Sartore

National Geographic Photo Ark Wonders: Celebrating Diversity in the Animal Kingdom Reviews

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  Cassie | Cassie’s Next Chapter

  WHOA - I was NOT prepared for the gorgeousness of this book! I love animals - especially the really weird looking ones (y’all know me and my diversity soapbox - they all deserve some love).
  
  Joel Sartore has had some crazy adventures capturing these creatures and I loved hearing how his travels would get bungled, or the animals wouldn’t cooperate, or he’d be sick on assignment. STILL, he pushes through and manages to capture such wonderfully astounding images! (And he ropes his kids in on assignment, too, which is awesome!)
  
  Also - can we just appreciate the beauty of the editing? The animals that share a photo spread have similarities in their form, which is highlighted so well by their pairing. Swipe to see what I mean. Nature, she’s a FORCE!
  
  Thank you, TLCbooktours and NatGeo for the gifted book! All opinions are my own.
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  Peter Tillman

  Vol. 6 in author Joel Sartore's 20+ year effort to photograph every living animal on Earth. An impressive project, that he's made into pretty much of a photographic career. It's an impressive book. Photo quality and color reproduction are impeccable, as you would expect of a National Geographic book. Well, I should add that the chimp photo he includes, with a note about why he's never gotten a good photo of that animal, was entertaining. His animals are all kept and posed in zoos worldwide, on black or white seamless paper, with touch-up later in Photoshop to avoid stressing the animals any more than he had too. Most of them, he says, are used to people, and their keepers are used to posing them for photos by visiting firemen. But that chimp.... A troublemaker!
  
  So: highly recommended for animal lovers and photography-book lovers. Good chance your public library will have a copy. Go for it!
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  Sivá Henderson

  I love animals thank you Oli for this book. It’s amazing. Yes there are words too. Animals are just so beautiful and strange and fascinating. Some of my favorites are the Nautilus, fried egg jellyfish, and every animal that was blue.
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  Lori L (She Treads Softly)

  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. On 10/19 at:
  http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/
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  Lucy

  Joel Sartare has been photographing the animals of the world for a number of years. His mission is to document all the animal species that are being held under human supervision in hopes of making them interesting so people will be aware of them and help them not go extinct. He doesn't go chasing them in the wild. He brings with him large rolls of paper so he can focus on the animal and not on the background. All are photographed against a black or white background so they're as clear as possible. He gives both the Latin name and the common one, if there is one.
  In this book he also adds some of the stories that go with getting the photographs. Where he has to go, people he meets, the difficulties some animals present, and traveling with his children. We also get a few stories from the children, now adults, on what it's like to travel with their father.
  As always the photographs are the focus and are gorgeous. Animals we know about and animals I've never heard of. The spotted-tail quoll, Indian rock python, Brazilian jewel tarantula, common sand star, okapi, western long-beaked echidna, mosshead warbonnet (a fish), corsac fox, cow-headed ray, northern pintail duck, decorator crab, and LOTS more. Mammals of all kinds, insects, fish, snakes, turtles. Whatever he can find that he can get to. He travels the world to seek them out.
  Organized into four chapter groupings: Shape, Pattern, Extra, Attitude. My only problem is the lack of an index. If you want to go back to look for a specific critter, you have to page through the book or scan through the long list at the end to find it.
  Highly recommended if you're a fan of animals.
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  Linda Haack

  Incredible! The pictures are absolutely stunning, and give us a look at wonders we will never see for ourselves. I thank Mr. Sartore for his work, his dedication to the disappearing species and the sharing it with the world. I have read three of his books and each one is beyond our imagination. I strongly recommend everyone with a heart living in this world reviews these books.
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  Julie

  I really admire Sartore’s mission to capture as much of the planet’s biodiversity on film as possible while it still exists. He travels the world photographing animals for his books and records their splendor while they’re still available to model for him. His photography is exquisite and he is able to capture unique features and even characteristics of his subjects. From doe eyes to feathers, scales, and fur, these photos are a delight to page through. Sometimes they pose with great theatricality (looking at you Von der Decken’s safika) and occasionally Sartore provides a humorous anecdote in the captions. National Geographic produces gorgeous large format books as a venue for phenomenal talent like Sartore’s.
  
  I received a complimentary copy of this book via TLC Book tours.
  
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  Cara BookShelfMomma

  This photo book is extraordinary, the pictures are fantastic. My family went through the pages wide eyed looking at all the animals. The pictures that Sartore I clouded in this book show us the vast diversity in the animal kingdom. My family loved the personalities that came out in the animals and how even though they were different there were fun similarities! Animal lovers of all ages would love this book!!
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  Sara Strand

  I adore everything Joel Sartore puts out into books and this is perhaps my favorite. If you are an animal lover at all, you will pour over every page cataloging the incredible photographic details of some of the most unique creatures on the planet.
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  Rachel

  Awesome pictures! Love all his books! I do wish some of the little descriptions said where each animal was from though!
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  Becky B

  Another collection of photos of animals in Joel Sartore's ongoing efforts to document every species in captivity to make sure especially the most vulnerable are documented before they disappear. This one includes a few essays from Sartore and his family about what it has been like for them personally for Sartore to be doing this project.
  
  Sartore's photos are stunning as always. Such a great variety of animals, and I love how this brings awareness to critically endangered animals. The essays from Sartore and his family were very interesting and eye-opening about what this project has required from all of them.
  
  No content issues.
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  Lillyanna Lamm

  "National Geographic Photo Ark Wonders" by Joel Sartore is a collection animal with little facts about them by their shapes, patterns, and expressions.
  
  I would give "National Geographic Photo Ark Wonders" by Joel Sartore" a 5-star review because, 1; I loved the pictures about these animals 2; I loved how the author organized the book by their shapes, expressions, and patterns and 3; I loved learning more about these animals.
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  Ambur Taft

  Phenomenal! What an amazing 25 year accomplishment, so much work. I definitely learned of some animals I have never heard of and enjoyed all the pictures and information, including the snippets of the photographers life and experiences while traveling for these photos.
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  Helen

  This is a wonderful book of animal photography for all ages! It includes biographical info. about the author & his family.
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  Trish

  Lots of interesting creatures.