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)

Revelers celebrate during fireworks marking the start of the New Year on Copacabana beach on January 1, 2017 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Mario Tama/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)

Visitors make snowmen beside a pool at a hot spring in Hangzhou, in China's eastern Zhejiang province on January 26, 2018. China's central and eastern regions have been hit by heavy snowfalls in recent days, causing disruptions to flight and train schedules. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)

Residents in fox makeup participate in the Oji Fox parade to thank the outgoing and welcome the incoming year at the Oji Inari shrine in Tokyo late on December 31, 2017. (Photo by Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP Photo)

Yuri Gagarin does not always show up in full-scale astronautics. In this picture he smiles during his summer vacation in Sochi, Russia in 1961 with sunglasses and sunhat in the camera. (Photo by Imago/Eastnews)

Starlings are seen at their nesting box in a private garden in the town of Bobruisk, Belarus, April 8, 2018. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

This photo taken on April 7, 2018 shows Rohingya refugee attending a demonstration of elephant resistance arranged by the UNHCR and IUCN at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhia, Bangladesh. The purpose of the training day is sobering – a dozen Rohingya have been killed by wild elephants whose habitat has been consumed by Kutupalong refugee camp. (Photo by Munir Uz Zaman/AFP Photo)