A volunteer approaches a male toad to pick him up from a road near Berlin on March 18, 2012 in Gueterfelde, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Twin baby panthers Remaong and Ferra cling to their basket while being presented to the media at Tierpark Berlin zoo on July 13, 2012 in Berlin, Germany. The two panthers were born in captivity on April 26. (Photo by Sean Gallup)

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and his daughter Irina Virganskaya attend the Free Your Mind Award Presentation at the Cinema For Peace charity dinner at the China Club on November 8, 2009 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images). BERLIN – NOVEMBER 08 2009

Finia, a visiting student from Hanover, cools off under a water sprinkler in front of the Chancellery on June 10, 2010 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

A baby hippopotamus lies next to its mother on the first day it was presented to the public at the Zoo Berlin zoo on November 1, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. The baby hippo was born at the zoo on October 23. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

The new 2011 Volkswagen Passant Variant (L) and new Golf Cabrio are lifted into one of two storage towers at the Autostadt customer reception center at the Volkswagen factory on the day of the German automaker's annual press conference on March 10, 2011 in Wolfsburg, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/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)