Carved pumpkins designed by US pumpkin artist Ray Villafane are pictured during a pumpkin exhibition in Ludwigsburg, southern Germany, on September 8, 2017. (Photo by Sebastian Gollnow/AFP Photo/DPA)
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)
A woman stumbes as people run down Oxford Street, London, Britain, November 24, 2017. Police are responding to reports of an incident at London's Oxford Circus Tube station and have urged the public to avoid the area. (Photo by Peter Nicholls/Reuters)
A cat tries to find dry ground around an apartment complex in Houston after Hurricane Harvey hit on Aug. 30. Harvey made landfall in South Texas on August 25, leading to days of downpours that dumped more than 50 inches of rain. Harvey damaged or destroyed about 200,000 homes as the storm system flooded much of Houston and smaller coastal communities. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
A man transports the carcass of a car on a two- wheeled carriage in a neighborhood in Abobo, a suburb of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire on December 1, 2017. (Photo by Issouf Sanogo/AFP Photo)
An Indian villager wearing a face mask as a precaution against the coronavirus sells his ware at market in Jammu, India, Friday, October 9, 2020. (Photo by Channi Anand/AP Photo)
Birds congregate by the ocean at sunrise, after California’s governor said he would impose some of the nation’s strictest stay-at-home orders in the coming days, as the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Santa Monica, California, U.S., December 4, 2020. (Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)