Portraits of Those on the Brink

A new book captures the portraits of some species that may soon disappear forever

Planet Earth may be losing up to 1,000 species to extinction every week.

The vast majority of these extinctions are directly caused by the harmful effects of human activity, such as pollution, habitat loss, disease, poaching, overhunting, overfishing and anthropogenic climate change.

For three years, Joel Sartore studied America's Endangered Species Act and the creatures that the law protects. An award-winning nature photographer, Sartore has worked for National Geographic for the past 17 years.

Sartore's in-depth investigation has resulted in Rare, a new book released last month containing 80 iconic images of the species that may soon be gone forever.

"These are perilous times for life on Earth," says the narrator for the Rare video trailer on Amazon.com. "Habitat destruction and climate change are expected to wipe out a third of all species by the turn of the century. Nearly half the primates could vanish in the next 25 years. Amphibians will fare worse."

"Here's why this matters. Biodiversity produces the food we eat and the air we breathe. It filters our water, controls disease and maintains our climate. So it's really quite simple: When we save biodiversity, we're actually saving ourselves."

GET INVOLVED

• Watch the Rare video
• Watch the Rare book trailer
• Purchase Rare
  
• Sign a petition to the United Nations to show your support of biodiversity
• Donate to support Conservation International campaigns to protect biodiversity hotspots around the globe
• Join the Countdown 2010 Network to join the fight against biodiversity loss
• Support the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

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image: Joel Sartore