Who’s the Rarest of Them All?

In a few saline marshes in Lincoln, Nebraska, lives are being lost with little protest. But then, when you’re talking about the Salt Creek tiger beetle, an insect the size of a sunflower seed, who really cares? Award-winning nature photographer (and Audubon contributor) Joel Sartore, for one. He lives in Lincoln and has witnessed the town’s growth at the expense of some 90 percent of the beetle’s habitat. With silvery, exophthalmic eyes, the tiny insect peers out from a blank page in Sartore’s latest book, Rare: Portraits of America’s Endangered Species (National Geographic, 160 pages, $24), an elegant depiction of some of the nation’s most imperiled organisms. The video above offers a flavor of the variety Sartore features. For our complete review of his book, click here. For more of Joel’s videos, click here.