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)

Street vendors carry chickens for sale at Kawran Bazar in Dhaka, Bangladesh January 25, 2017. (Photo by Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters)

A bystander walks past a fresco by street artist Seth depicting a girl with a Ukrainian flag walking on tanks in Paris on March 01, 2022. (Photo by Joel Saget/AFP Photo)

In this Monday, March 16, 2015 photo, Syrian refugee Samira Helal, 17, who is two months pregnant, poses for a portrait at inside her tent at an informal tented settlement near the Syrian border, on the outskirts of Mafraq, Jordan. Nearly 3.8 million Syrians have fled their country and are now registered as refugees, according to the U.N. Most face increasingly desperate circumstances. (Photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP Photo)

A young boy lifts heavy bricks as he works at brick factory around Kathmandu valley. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA)

A person walks their dog in the morning mist at sunrise in Greenwich Park in south London on November 9, 2020. (Photo by Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP Photo)

An Indian one-horned rhinoceros grazes on a dry wetland at the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra River in Morigaon district of India's Assam state on April 4, 2025. (Photo by Biju Boro/AFP Photo)

A bulky tree appears to have crashed down on the roof of this clapped-out Citroen. The haunting images were taken by Belgian security guard, Kenneth Provost at various locations across Germany and Belgium. (Photo by Kenneth Provost/Mediadrumworld.com)