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)

In this image made from video, woman protesters march with a sign outside the building housing the Saudi consulate in Sydney, Thursday, January 10, 2019. Four women held a topless protest in Sydney on Thursday to support runaway Saudi woman Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, as Australia began considering her bid to settle in the country as a refugee. (Photo by Australia Broadcast Corporation via AP Photo)

Laborers work on scaffolding near a full-scale replica of the Sphinx at an unfinished movie and animation tourism theme park, in Chuzhou, Anhui province, March 27, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

A person takes a picture of the “Temple”, a 21-foot painted bronze sculpture from 2008, by British artist Damien Hirst, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in the Alpine resort of St. Moritz, Switzerland February 25, 2021. (Photo by Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)

Richardson Fremond leaps over a wall as he runs to collect an award during a graduation ceremony for the senior class of Chambers High School at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Tuesday, June 23, 2020, in Homestead, Fla. Forty-one seniors graduated from the school and crossed the start-finish line to receive their diplomas, during the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo)

A traffic police woman whistles at a pedestrian, Monday, July 27, 2015, in Pyongyang, North Korea where its citizens are having a one-day national holiday to celebrate the country's 62nd anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War. (Photo by Wong Maye-E/AP Photo)

A visitor takes photos of “Grecian Nude” by British artist Damien Hirst, as part of the exhibition “Archaeology Now” at Galleria Borghese in Rome on June 07, 2021. The exhibition, running through June 08 – November 07, 2021, features over 80 works from Hirst’s Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable series, displayed throughout the museum alongside ancient masterpieces. (Photo by Tiziana Fabi/AFP Photo)

A view shows “The Farnese Bridge”, a participatory monumental cardboard installation by French artist Olivier Grossetete, over the Tiber river in front of the Palazzo Farnese, the seat of the French embassy in Italy, during its inauguration in Rome on July 13, 2021. A French Embassy project, the Farnese bridge is the realization of the dream of Cardinal Farnese, who wished to build a bridge over the Tiber to connect Palazzo Farnese to the gardens of the Villa Farnesina. A project, at the time, entrusted to Michelangelo, but that remained unfinished. (Photo by Filippo Monteforte/AFP Photo)