Train attendants take part in a parade training as they visit the national flag guard during a patriotic education event ahead of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Beijing, China July 25, 2017. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)

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)

An Afghan boy jumps off the turret of a Soviet tank on a hilltop on the the outskirts of Kabul, Sunday, March, 4, 2018. (Photo by Rahmat Gul/AP Photo)

In this Wednesday, June 8, 2016 photo, Joe Giles, an actor portraying a zombie in “The Walking Dead”, poses with social media reporter Danielle Datu during a walker boot camp at Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)

Syrian refugee boys play with toy guns at Eminonu district in Istanbul, Turkey, 08 January 2019. (Photo by Sedat Suna/EPA/EFE)

Women are reflected on silver panels of the French luxury brand Louis Vuitton flagship store at the Central Business District in Beijing, Wednesday, March 6, 2019. China will bar government authorities from demanding overseas companies hand over technology secrets in exchange for market share, a top economic official said Wednesday, addressing a key complaint at the heart of the current China-U.S. trade dispute. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)

Sun Rongchun, 57, exercises with an improvised cervical traction device attached to a high bar at a sports complex in Shenyang, Liaoning province, China on April 9, 2019. (Photo by Sheng Li/Reuters)

The winners of The London’s Natural History Museum's prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year for 2013 have finally been unveiled. Selected from almost 43,000 entries from 96 countries, the winners offer a glimpse of the stunning array of natural beauty on our planet. Photo: Canada: “Lucky pounce”. “Anticipating the pounce – that was the hardest part”, says Connor, who had come to Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA, in search of wildlife as much as the spectacular landscape. He had found this fox, his first ever, on his last day in the park. It was so absorbed in hunting that Connor had plenty of time to get out of the car and settle behind a rock. It quartered the grassland, back and forth, and then started staring intently at a patch of ground, giving Connor just enough warning of the action to come. When it sprung up, Connor got his shot. And when it landed, the fox got his mouse. (Photo by Connor Stefanison/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013)