Peruvian surfer Domingo Pianezzi rides a wave with his alpaca Pisco at San Bartolo beach in Lima March 16, 2010. Pianezzi has spent a decade training dogs to ride the nose of his board when he catches waves, and now he is the first to do so with an alpaca. (Photo by Pilar Olivares/Reuters)

As pancake day has creped up on us once again, a Japanese chef has combined our favourite things; cute animals and sugar. Keisuke Inagaki has been a chef at his restaurant La Ricetta in Zama City, Japan, for the last 18 years. He rose to Instagram fame from his Pokemon and anime pancake art, and the time around heis created a lifelike animal series. The 46-year-old chef began making pancakes in 2011 to raise spirits after the devastating nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan. Here: A pancake that looks like a cat, in Zama City, Japan. (Photo by Keisuke Inagaki/Barcroft Images)

Old Heidelberg, Dog with Pipe, 1905. (Photo by Detroit Publishing Company)

A mascot of the Philippine National Police (PNP), named after their Chief Director General Ronald Dela Rosa, marches with members of the K9 units and the Special Action Force before the mass blessing for rescue dogs during the celebration of the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, patron Saint of Animals, at the St. John Paul II parish church in Eastwood, Quezon city, metro Manila, Philippines October 2, 2016. (Photo by Romeo Ranoco/Reuters)

A man poses with a hyena along a street in Lagos, Nigeria November 4, 2008. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)

A woman sits next to a dog during the fifth edition of the “Mi Mascota” (My Pet) fair in Malaga, southern Spain, November 27, 2016. (Photo by Jon Nazca/Reuters)

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)