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)

A man transports the carcass of a car on a two- wheeled carriage in a neighborhood in Abobo, a suburb of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire on December 1, 2017. (Photo by Issouf Sanogo/AFP Photo)

On the second straight day of record-setting temperatures, Maddy Hacker is hoisted up by friend Jasmine Harper, both of McLean, Virgnia, as they attempt an acrobatic stunt in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., February 21, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

In this handout provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), SpaceX's Falcon 9 is moved to the launch pad prior to the rocket's Thales Alenia Space launch attempt on April 26, 2015 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Photo by NASA via Getty Images)

A guest proposes to his companion as they arrive for the screening of “Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo” during the 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival, in Cannes, France, 23 May 2019. The movie is presented in the Official Competition of the festival which runs from 14 to 25 May. (Photo by Julien Warnand/EPA/EFE)

Blaze, 8, from Swindon, is covered from head to toe as he plays in the mud at Weston-super-Mare beach on August 4, 2019, as the tide recedes and the huge expanse of mud flats cover the beach where holidaymakers enjoy splashing around. (Photo by Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images)

A local farmer Theophilus Mwendwa runs through a swarm of desert locusts to chase them away in the bush near Enziu, Kitui County, some 200km east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya, 24 January 2020. Large swarms of desert locusts have been invading Kenya for weeks, after having infested some 70 thousand hectares of land in Somalia which the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has termed the “worst situation in 25 years” in the Horn of Africa. FAO cautioned that it poses an “unprecedented threat” to food security and livelihoods in the region. (Photo by Dai Kurokawa/EPA/EFE)