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)

Hosts Miranda Cosgrove and Rob Gronkowski perform during the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, U.S., April 9, 2022. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

American model Kendall Jenner hides from the camera as she arrives with Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny to Richie Akiva's “The After” party hosted by Diddy and Doja Cat at The Box, presented by Armand de Brignac and CIROC Vodka on May 1, 2023. (Photo by Rommel Demano/BFA.com)

A member of the USA Knights team is seen wearing a face-like helmet shield during the International Medieval Combat championships at the castle of Belmonte, May 4, 2014, in Belmonte, Spain. The steel armor the knights wear can cost up to $10,000 and weigh 80 pounds. (Photo by Juan Naharro Gimenez/Getty Images)

Students from Cambridge University in England make their way home along Trinity Lane after celebrating the end of the academic year at a May Ball in Trinity College on June 18, 2019. (Photo by Joe Giddens/PA Images via Getty Images)

Stunning images taken by Sean Lenz, 19, and Kristoffer Abligaard, 20, show picturesque waterfalls transformed into vibrant rainbows of colour. The awe-inspiring images were created by clever use of long exposure photography and glow sticks floating through water. Photo: Picturesque waterfalls transformed into rainbows of colour. (Photo by Sean Lenz/Kristoffer Abildgaard)

Revelers throw a woman to the air during the opening and the firing of the “Chupinazo” rocket which starts the 2014 Festival of the San Fermin Running of the Bulls on July 6, 2014 in Pamplona, Spain. The annual Fiesta de San Fermin, made famous by the 1926 novel of US writer Ernest Hemmingway entitled “The Sun Also Rises”, involves the daily running of the bulls through the historic heart of Pamplona to the bull ring. (Photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images)

A doctor performs surgery on an injured man with a part of an aluminium alloy fence through his chest after a car accident in Zhumadian, Henan province, China, September 15, 2014. The doctor managed to surgically remove the piece. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)