United States' Inika McPherson prepares an attempt during the women' s high jump final during the World Athletics Championships in London Saturday, August 12, 2017. (Photo by Kai Pfaffenbach/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)

Leonhard Nienbling is shown with his 6-month old pet baboon Jackl, who holds a 6-month old kitten, its playmate, June 29, 1952. Niebling has quite an animal collection at his home in Zirndorf, Germany. (Photo by Heinrich Sanden/AP Photo)

Students of the Krasnoyarsk choreographic college Anastasia Shevtsova (R) and Yulia Lyakhovykh do leg-splits as they study for an exam and a performance by the graduates at the State Theatre of Opera and Ballet, at the college's campus in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, May 4, 2017. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from historic launch pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, February 6, 2018. The world' s most powerful rocket, SpaceX' s Falcon Heavy, blasted off Tuesday on its highly anticipated maiden test flight, carrying CEO Elon Musk' s cherry red Tesla roadster to an orbit near Mars. Screams and cheers erupted at Cape Canaveral, Florida as the massive rocket fired its 27 engines and rumbled into the blue sky over the same NASA launchpad that served as a base for the US missions to Moon four decades ago. (Photo by Thom Baur/Reuters)

Artist German Vinogradov acts in the performance of the burning of installation, devoted to Maslenitsa, or Pancake Week, a pagan holiday marking the end of winter, in the village of Nikola-Lenivets, Kaluga region, Russia, February 17, 2018. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

Female members of police commando march during a ceremony on International Women's Day, at the police headquarters in Islamabad, Pakistan March 8, 2018. (Photo by Faisal Mahmood/Reuters)

Racegoers during Ladies Day of the 2018 Cheltenham Festival in Cheltenham, England on March 14, 2018. (Photo by Graham Stone/Rex Features/Shutterstock)