One man's mission to photograph 20,000 species

A spoon-billed sandpiper steps into the frame, heading straight for a small bug placed there as bait. It sweeps up its food with its spoon-shaped beak and exits stage-left.

The performance is for Joel Sartore, an American photographer and founder of the National Geographic Photo Ark, a personal effort to document every species in captivity around the world.

The critically endangered bird, of which there are fewer than 1,000 individuals in the wild, is the 13,000th species Sartore has photographed in 16 years. His ultimate goal is to photograph 20,000.

He hopes that this image, and all the others, will help to inspire action through education and prevent mass animal extinction.

"The Photo Ark is my desperate, last-ditch attempt to try to get the public to pay attention," Sartore said.

Courtesy: CNN

More about Changemaker Talent speaker Joel Sartore HERE