National Geographic Photo Ark Babies: Growing Up in the Animal World

by Joel Sartore

From a turtle poking out of its egg to sloth sibs cuddling, this adorable collection highlights more than 150 youngsters across the animal kingdom.

It's the latest in renowned photographer Joel Sartore’s National Geographic Photo Ark series.

Fall in love with rambunctious cougar kittens and playful coyote pups, fluffy pandas and curious chimps, as you explore more than 120 photographs of the youngest animals in the remarkable Photo Ark. These incredible portraits capture the curiosity of an eight-week-old white Bengal tiger cub, peer inside the egg of a yet-to-be-born eyelash frog, reveal the watchful gaze of a five-day-old white-tailed deer fawn, and more. Along the way, you’ll learn fascinating facts about parenting practices, family relationships, and complex behaviors that characterize various species from birth to fledging.

Begun in 2005 with the goal of photographing every animal species in human care, Joel Sartore’s National Geographic Photo Ark now numbers more than 16,000 animals. This new book in the popular Photo Ark series is perfect for everyone in the family—and for all those who share in the joy and wonder of the animal kingdom.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals, Nature, Art, Photography

208 pages, Hardcover

Published March 4, 2025

About the author

From Wikipedia: Joel Sartore (born June 16, 1962, Ponca City, Oklahoma) is an American photographer, speaker, author, teacher, and a 20-year contributor to National Geographic magazine. Sartore grew up in Ralston, Nebraska and graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a degree in journalism. His interest in nature started in childhood, when he learned about the very last passenger pigeon from one of his mother's Time-Life picture books. He has since been chased by a wide variety of species including wolves, grizzlies, musk oxen, lions, elephants and polar bears. His first National Geographic assignments introduced him to nature photography, and also allowed him to see human impact on the environment first-hand.

In addition to the work he has done for National Geographic, Joel has contributed to Audubon Magazine, GEO, Time, Life, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated and numerous book projects. Joel and his work have been the subjects of several national broadcasts including National Geographic's Explorer, the NBC Nightly News, NPR's Weekend Edition and an hour-long PBS documentary, At Close Range. He is also a contributor on the CBS Sunday Morning Show with Charles Osgood. In 2015, he had an appearance in the film Racing Extinction where he photographed the very last Rabb's fringe-limbed treefrog.

Joel Sartore is a founding Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP).[1] In 2012, Sartore was named a Fellow of the National Geographic Society.

Reviews

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has some really great pictures. Just what you would expect from anything.Put out from national geographic. Makes a great coffee table book.

[em · Rating 3 out of 5]

i love baby animals!!!!!!!!!!

[Heaven Ashlee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a delightful book. The photographs are astounding, the captions are full of wit and humor and some truly insane facts (nature is crazy!). The purpose of this book is to bring awareness to animals who are in danger of dying out--often throughout the passages, a call to action is asked.

"The Photo Ark is my last-ditch effort to try to get the public to care about species and habitats while there is still time to save them."

[Nickel Colecio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Epic… awesome!

[Danielle Woolard · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's the perfect coffee table art book, really. The photographs are beautiful, there's some reading and fun facts.. it's really great.

Thank you to Goodreads, the publisher, and the author for my Giveaway - it was a joy to read.

[Michelle Khzouz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun and fascinating look into the fabulous world of newborn animals. My husband and I sat with our children and went through the entire book in one evening. The kids loved the beautiful rare baby photos. They were gorgeous and captured so much of their personalities. We can’t wait to share this with friends and family.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Photo Ark Babies is a continuation of Joel Sartore's Photo Ark series although this time based on using juvenile and baby animal specimens as his subjects.

As is common the book includes a combination of text and photographs. The text is either usually an introductory page that later repeats some information further down the section, animal captions for the illustrations, included quotes and occasional inserts that provides more indepth looks into that animal's behavior or a story about where as well as how he came to photograph that particular model.

Those that know Joel Sartore will understand that his mission is once more repeated in the book and that he heavily leans on conservation throughout.

As with many other of his works, the photographs are beautiful but not always amazing. Sartore often likes to make full spreads for some of his works and so translated into books means always some type of detail is getting lost in the cracks of the spine.

All in all it is a nice book to skim through for illustrations and a light yet quick informative read to pass the time with if you're in a hurry.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This man is doing God's work. It is a book full of beautiful photos of baby animals- unless you are a psycho it's 5 stars.

[Awjtf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great photos! Love the babies!

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a nature lover like I am than this book is for you! The photos are amazing and the information about each animal very informative.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute, except for a few bugs and the fairy shrimp.