15 years ago, Joel Sartore began his quest to photograph all of Earth’s animal species under human care. The Photo Ark project has since inspired thousands of people to protect the world’s most vulnerable animals. For the first time in one place, presented in a striking 400-page volume, see the rarest of these species up close and personal.

The animals within VANISHING are nearing extinction — or in some cases, already extinct in the wild, but kept alive in captivity thanks to the work of heroic conservationists. Each species is showcased in Sartore’s signature portrait style, inviting us to notice the smallest details on the Burmese roofed turtle, or the barbary lion, which was hunted to regional extinction in the 1960’s.