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 Friday, March 28, 2014 photo, singers of the Moranbong Band, Jong Su Hyang, foreground, and Pak Mi Kyong, left perform on their stage in Pyongyang, North Korea. Step aside, Sea of Blood Opera. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's favorite guitar-slinging, miniskirt-sporting girl group, the Moranbong Band, is back. And these ladies know how to shimmy. (Photo by Jon Chol Jin/AP Photo)

Photographer Patrick Halls likes to make the people he takes photos of uncomfortable in order to “capture a real emotion”. It is no wonder that for his latest project, he decided to stun his subjects with a taser.

“The Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) has released the largest-ever three-dimensional map of massive galaxies and distant black holes, which will help astronomers explain the mysterious “dark matter” and “dark energy” that scientists know makes up 96 percent of the Universe”. – SDSS-III

Mini Amsterdam has launched a promotion campaign for their brand new creation Mini Copper. The idea is that Mini Copper is so small that it could fit in a box. Thus, as part of the promotion campaign, huge cardboard boxes were left in various popular placed of Amsterdam, making it look as if someone has bought a Mini Copper and thrown out the cardboard box it came in. Of course it is simply a commercial; however, it clearly illustrates just how small the Mini Copper really is. This is a perfect vehicle to handle narrow streets and lack of parking space. Truly, this vehicle could be parked just about anywhere! (Photo by JWT)

Yu Jietao, 26-year-old wood carver, sits in his homemade wooden car along a street in Guangfeng county of Shangrao, Jiangxi province, China February 9, 2015. The car can travel as fast as 30 km (18.6 miles) per hour, local media reported. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Shortlisted: Pooyan Shadpoor, Houcheraghi. While walking along the shore of Larak, Iran – an island in the Persian Gulf – Shadpoor came across this luminous scene. The “magical lights of (the) plankton ... enchanted me so that I snapped the shot”, he writes. (Photo by Pooyan Shadpoor/2016 EPOTY)