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)

People stand in front of an murals at Lodhi Art District in New Delhi on March 24, 2019. Visitors throng Lodhi colony which has murals by dozens of Indian and international artists. (Photo by Sajjad Hussain/AFP Photo)

An Iraqi shi'ite muslim girl places a copy of the Koran on her head during the holy month of Ramadan at the Imam Ali Shrine, in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq on May 28, 2019. (Photo by Alaa Al-Marjani/Reuters)

A villager harvests water chestnuts in Feijiadai Village, Zhejiang Province, China on September 20, 2019. (Photo by Huang Zongzhi/Xinhua News Agency/Barcroft Media)

Young girls attend a training session in MGFSO Olympic reserve school in Moscow on May 30, 2016. (Photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP Photo)