People view Singpoli Group's inaugural Rose Parade float as it undergoes its finishing touches in Pasadena, California December 30, 2014. The 126th Rose Parade will take place on New Years Day in Pasadena. (Photo by Jonathan Alcorn/Reuters)

A dramatic rise in owning exotic pets in China is fuelling global demand for threatened species. The growing trade in alligators, snakes, monkeys, crocodiles and spiders is directly linked to species loss in some of the world’s most threatened ecosystems. Here: A fennec fox (Vulpes zerda) is groomed in a pet store in central Beijing. Native to the Sahara in North Africa, the species became a popular pet after being depicted as a character in Disney’s 2016 animated movie Zootopia. Individuals can cost between $2,000–$3,000. (Photo by Sean Gallagher/The Guardian)

The little new born wombat baby APARI sitting in its mothers pouch at the zoo in Duisburg, Germany, Thursday, March 29, 2018. Wombat mother TINSEL once was found in the pouch of its dead mother on a street in Australia and was raised by zookeepers before she came to Germany. The zoo tried for 40 years in vain to breed a wombat, until APARI was born as the first one last week. (Photo by Martin Meissner/AP Photo)

In this photo taken on Monday, January 5, 2015, a mallard duck attempts to walk on a frozen pond in Yukon, Okla. (Photo by Steve Gooch/AP Photo/The Oklahoman)

A greater bird of paradise (Paradisaea apoda) displaying in Badigaki Forest, Wokam Island (Aru Islands, Indonesia). Found here in Aru and on adjacent New Guinea, the greater bird of paradise represents about 40 different species of birds of paradise that depend on intact rainforest across the New Guinea region spanning eastern Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. With more than 80% of forest cover still intact, this region represents the largest remaining block of rainforest in the entire Asia-Pacific. (Photo by Tim Laman/naturepl.com/LDY Agency)

Peter Weiss, director of the Space Department of COMEX, (c) tests a pressurized suit identical to those used in space expeditions in the lava tunnel of “Caverne Gendarme” on October 12, 2018 in Saint-Philippe, the French overseas island of Reunion. Reunion could become a training site for astronauts. (Photo by Richard Bouhet/AFP Photo)

Vegetarian 19-year-old model Courtney Stodden gets ready to serve veggie hot dogs wearing a lettuce bikini during a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) free veggie dog handout on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, July 16, 2014. (Photo by Jim Watson/AFP Photo)

Physicist Arie van't Riet uses a series of duel X-ray cameras to capture flowers, plants and small animals in living dioramas. The x-rays are then finished and colorized in Photoshop. Giving way to some breathtaking nature scenes. Photo: “Chameleon and Begonia”. (Photo by Arie van't Riet)