Cheerleaders wait to perform before the New Year's Day parade in London, Britain January 1, 2017. (Photo by Neil Hall/Reuters)

A model performs on the Toyota FV2 concept car during the 2014 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition at China International Exhibition Center on April 21, 2014 in Beijing, China. More than 2,000 automotive enterprises from 14 countries and regions participated in the 2014 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition from April 20 to April 29. (Photo by Feng Li/Getty Images)

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 member of the “Exit Point” amateur rope-jumping group jumps from a 44-metre high (144-feet high) waterpipe bridge in the Siberian Taiga area outside Krasnoyarsk, September 28, 2014. Fans of rope-jumping, a kind of extreme sport involving a jump from a high point using an advanced system of amortization including mountaineering and rope safety equipment, attended the Golden Autumn group's jumping season. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

A girl smiles as her hair is blown by a strong wind in the Chinatown area in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Friday, January 27, 2017. (Photo by Koji Sasahara/AP Photo)

Model Ming Xi falls as she presents a creation during the 2017 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in Shanghai, China, November 20, 2017. (Photo by David Fisher/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Participants run at the “Half-Naked Marathon” at Olympic Forest park in Beijing, China, February 28, 2016. This annual running event which requires participants to run half-naked, was organized to promote environmentally friendly lifestyles. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

A pair of giant pandas play in their enclosure at the Beijing Zoo on June 5, 2012 in Beijing, China. With an estimated 1,600 living in the wild, the endangered giant panda dwell in a few mountain ranges in central China, in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces. (Photo by Lintao Zhang)