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 Capybara bathes in the hot spring water at the Saitama Children's zoo in Higashi Matsuyama city, Saitama prefecture on December 21, 2014. Seven capybaras in the zoo, originally from South America, enjoyed the hot spring water on the chilly winter day in Japan. (Photo by Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP Photo)

A baby Asian elephant, born only two days before, stands next to his mother Nova in its enclosure at Tierpark Berlin Zoo on May 10, 2012 in Berlin, Germany. The male elephant calf, who does not have a name yet, weighs 102kg and is 91cm tall. (Photo by Timur Emek/dapd/Sean Gallup)

“The World Stands on its Head” (“Die Welt Steht Kopf”) House on the Baltic Sea Island of Usedom stands nearly completed on September 3, 2008 in Trassenheide, Germany. The upside down house, complete with upside down interior furnishings, is the brainchild of Klaudiusz Golos and Sebastian Mikiciuk, and will become a local tourist attraction. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

People stand under a giant Czech flag as they arrive to light candles at the base of a statue of St. Wenceslas to commemorate the death of former Czech President Vaclav Havel on December 18, 2011 in Prague, Czech Republic. Havel, who led the Velvet Revolution that forced communist rule in Czechoslovakia to crumble in 1989, died in the early morning today in his sleep at the age of 75. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Thomas jumps into the water from a spring board at a public swimming pool in Mengen, Germany, 28 August 2016. (Photo by Thomas Warnack/EPA)

A student of the department for aritificial intelligence at the Freie Universitaet Berlin steers a converted Dodge minivan remotely with an iPhone during a demonstration at Tempelhof Airport on November 2, 2009 in Berlin, Germany. The car, whose design was led by professor Raul Rojas, is outfitted with a variety of laser sensors, GPS antennae and computers. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Plastinated human corpses posed to look like poker players stand on display at the Body Worlds exhibition on April 27, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. The exhibition, which features human and animal corpses plastinated by Gunther von Hagens, focuses on the role of the heart. It will be open to the public at the Postbahnhof from April 27 to August 14. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)