A walrus kisses a visitor during a sea animal show at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium-amusement park complex in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo, Monday, September 11, 2017. (Photo by Shizuo Kambayashi/AP Photo)

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)

Leonhard Nienbling is shown with his 6-month old pet baboon Jackl, who holds a 6-month old kitten, its playmate, June 29, 1952. Niebling has quite an animal collection at his home in Zirndorf, Germany. (Photo by Heinrich Sanden/AP Photo)

Human canvases modelling world famous artworks including Van Gogh's Sunflowers and Edvard Munch's The Scream take to the streets of London in a bid to mend Britain's disconnect with art on September 25, 2017. Award winning body paint artist Sarah Attwell was commissioned by online art platform Rise Art to show that great art is for everybody, following research that revealed 1 in 6 Brits have never set foot in an art gallery. (Photo by Imagewise Ltd/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

An elderly woman plays an accordion in Moscow, Russia on October 3, 2017. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)

Vincent Yu is a multiple award winner who won Honorable Mention in the 2013 Photographer of the Year category for Pictures of the Year International. Photo: A statue of Hotei Buddha sits in the debris in the tsunami-destroyed town of Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan Friday, April 1, 2011. (Photo by Vincent Yu/AP Photo)

An Indian Hindu devotee pours milk on a snake as an offering during the annual Nag Panchami festival, dedicated to the worship of snakes outside the Nagvasuki temple, in Allahabad, on July 28, 2017. Officially the snake charmers' profession is banned in India, but many in the country offered prayers and milk blessings to cobras and other deadly serpents on July 28 in an annual tribute. The 800,000 charmers and their young apprentices come to the fore for the Nag Panchami festival which dates back several centuries. (Photo by Sanjay Kanojia/AFP Photo)

China has recently relaxed its one child policy that was used to control a burgeoning population. A couple has their wedding photo taken in an old quarter of Beijing on May 24, 2016. (Photo by Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)