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)

Revelers celebrate during fireworks marking the start of the New Year on Copacabana beach on January 1, 2017 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Vitoria Bueno, a 16-year-old dancer whose genetic condition left her without arms, poses for a picture in her neighborhood in Santa Rita do Sapucai, Brazil, February 7, 2021. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)

A squatter argues with a police officer during an eviction at a settlement coined the “First of May Refugee Camp”, named for the date people moved on the land designated for a Petrobras refinery, in Itaguai, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, Thursday, July 1, 2021, amid the new coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Silvia Izquierdo/AP Photo)

People walk in a field of California poppies and other wildflowers outside of the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, after recent rains moved the region's second-driest winter on record up to its seventh-driest, near Lancaster, California, on April 2, 2022. The California Department of Water Resources reported that about one-third of the Sierra Nevada snowpack's water equivalency melted last week under higher-than-normal temperatures, leaving the statewide snow-water equivalent at 38% of normal for the date. (Photo by David Mcnew/AFP Photo)

A woman holds her dog after arriving from Russian-occupied territory at a registration and processing area for internally displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, in Ukraine, on May 8, 2022. (Photo by Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP Photo)

Vietnamese-American singer and songwriter Thuy poses for a portrait backstage at the 2024 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at Empire Polo Club on April 13, 2024 in Indio, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Coachella)

Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station experiences months of darkness. The sun dips below the horizon on March 21, after which follows several weeks of twilight before complete darkness results. Photo taken on June 25, 2009. (National Science Foundation/Jeremy Johnson)