As pancake day has creped up on us once again, a Japanese chef has combined our favourite things; cute animals and sugar. Keisuke Inagaki has been a chef at his restaurant La Ricetta in Zama City, Japan, for the last 18 years. He rose to Instagram fame from his Pokemon and anime pancake art, and the time around heis created a lifelike animal series. The 46-year-old chef began making pancakes in 2011 to raise spirits after the devastating nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan. Here: A pancake that looks like a cat, in Zama City, Japan. (Photo by Keisuke Inagaki/Barcroft 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 resident pushes their motorbike through flood waters caused by torrential rain in Semarang, central Java, Indonesia on February 23, 2021. (Photo by W.F. Sihardian/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Birds sit on the back of a zebra in the Nairobi National Park, near Nairobi, Kenya, November 21, 2018. (Photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters)

A newborn baby pangolin climbs the walls of a cage in Bangkok, Thailand April 20, 2011. The Thai custom office showed 175 pangolins they found hidden in a truck heading into Bangkok. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

Rockhopper penguins live up to their name as they navigate the rugged coastline of Marion Island in the southern Indian Ocean. (Photo by Thomas P. Peschak)

A model (C) looks at her mobile phone while backstage before the araisara Sara Arai Collection show during China Fashion Week in Beijing on March 27, 2015. China Fashion Week runs from March 24 to March 31. (Photo by Wang Zhao/AFP Photo)

A Japanese artist is making a name for himself by creating animal sculptures out of balloons. Masayoshi Matsumoto, 29, has thus far created a wide range of intricate figures from the animal kingdom. Here: Blobfish by Masayoshi Matsumoto. (Photo by Masayoshi Matsumoto/Caters News Agency)