READY FOR THEIR CLOSE-UPS:

THE AMAZING WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN INSIDE A STUDIO

From a naked mole to a chameleon, a lemur to an elephant, these stunning portraits capture the individual beauty of animals great and small.

Each pictured against a black or white background in a studio, these are just a handful of the world's rarest and most stunning species photographed by Joel Satore.

The photographer, from Nebraska, U.S, aims to highlight their importance and encourage people to pay closer attention to endangered species.

Some of the images feature the world's most threatened animals, including the armadillo and the Delhi Sands flowerloving fly.

Joel, 49, said: 'Photographing the animals in the wild would have done them a great dis-service. Some of the animals were so small they wouldn't have been able to see them.

'By having them pictured on black and white backgrounds, means each animal is given equal consideration.

'The studio shot can make a grizzly bear look the same size as an owl and a polar bear the same size as a snail, it gives each animal equal weight and equal importance.' But Joel said photographing the animals was no easy feat, some like the grizzly bear were too dangerous to photograph at close range.

Others such as the St Andrew Beach Mouse barely stayed still long enough for him to take the shot. And others such as the Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly were so endangered he had to have permission from the US government, to photograph.

'Some of the animals were exceedingly hard to photograph, a turtle is easy as it doesn't move too quickly but mice run around like crazy and I needed to wait patiently for them to stand still for a second, so I can get the image in focus.