A Jacobin pigeon, a favorite of Darwin’s, who bred the birds, photographed by Robert Clark.

An ostrich egg, abandoned in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park, by Nick Brandt.

*Top,* a Japanese macaque braves the winter by congregating with other macaques around the island of Honshu’s hot-spring pools, by Jasper Doest. *Above,* a bevy of mute swans, at the Abbotsbury Swannery, in Dorset, U.K., by Graeme Green.

A rider and his horse trek across the Siberian ice, by Matthieu Paley.

*Top,* an emperor penguin takes fleeting flight in Antarctica’s Ross Sea; *above,* an emperor-penguin chick rests at Cape Washington. By Paul Nicklen.

Hoffmann’s two-toed sloths, of the mother-and-baby variety, by Suzi Eszterhas.

*Top,* Ye Ye, a 16-year-old giant panda, in China’s Wolong National Nature Reserve. *Above,* Joseph Wachira comforts Sudan, the last living northern white rhino on the planet, moments before his death, on March 19, 2018, at Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy. By Ami Vitale.

Azy, an orangutan with wit and one glorious beard, by Vincent J. Musi.

*Top,* a mother polar bear shields her cubs from a harsh winter, by Marco Ronconi; *above,* crossing Tanzania’s Mara River, by Clement Mwangi.

A cheetah and her cubs in Kenya’s Olare Motorogi Conservancy, by Beverly Joubert.

*Top,* jaguars rescued from the illegal pet trade south of Cancún, by Steve Winter; *above,* a humpback whale and her calf gaze into the deep blue, by Shawn Heinrichs.

A member of a Nenana River wolf pack casts an early-morning shadow in Alaska’s Denali National Park, by Aaron Huey.

Barracuda surround a diver off Sipadan, in Malaysia, by David Doubilet.

Curtain call for an Asian elephant, by James Balog.

Where the Wild Things Are

A women-led photography initiative aims to raise $1 million to support the protection of endangered habitats

The power of photographs is one to be reckoned with. When it comes to the animal world, images offer a chance not only for admiration but also for mobilization. Arresting snapshots of melting polar ice caps or polar bears’ succumbing to the effects of global warming may endear us to donate to charities aimed at saving the animals. They might make us rethink our answer when we are offered a single-use plastic bag, or research new ways of reducing our carbon footprint.

The women-led initiative Vital Impacts is taking this thinking and running with it, rounding up prints by 100 photographers from around the world—Nick Brandt, Chris Burkard, Jimmy Chin, Tamara Dean, David Doubilet, Cristina Mittermeier, and others—in an effort to raise $1 million for charities concerned with the protection of endangered habitats, such as the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots program, Great Plains Foundation’s Project Ranger, and SeaLegacy.