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)

Nicole Scherzinger at the “The X Factor” TV show, Series 14, Episode 15, Judges' Houses in Sun City, South Africa on October 21, 2017. (Photo by Dymond/Thames/Syco/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A stag deer stands in the road in Richmond Park, in west London, Britain, December 27, 2017. (Photo by Hannah McKay/Reuters)

Bella Hadid and Joan Smalls are seen attending the Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garcons: Art Of The In-Between' Costume Institute Gala – After Party on May 02, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

Artist Le Pustra and organiser Else Edelstahl pose for a picture at Simon Dach Strasse, a street filled with many bars, in Berlin, Germany, August 28, 2016. Else Edelstahl organises the party series “Boheme Sauvage”, in which people dress up in 1920s style, celebrating Berlin nightlife of a past era. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

China has recently relaxed its one child policy that was used to control a burgeoning population. A couple has their wedding photo taken in an old quarter of Beijing on May 24, 2016. (Photo by Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)

Men wear masks as they sit in the metro in Prague, Czech Republic, 17 March 2020. According to media reports, the Czech government decided to impose a two-week quarantine in the country on the evening of 15 March, and ban all international travel from 16 March 2020. Currently 383 cases of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the Covid-19 disease, have been officially confirmed in Czech Republic. (Photo by Martin Divisek/EPA/EFE)

Demonstrators celebrate with green headscarves - the symbol of abortion rights activists – outside the Argentine Congress in Buenos Aires on December 11, 2020, after legislators passed a bill to legalize abortion. (Photo by Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP Photo)