When we all mention pets, we will think of cats and dogs, in fact, pets are far more than these, the following people are some of our rare pets, and also have an extremely high status in the animal kingdom. These include reptiles, animals listed as endangered by the World Conservation Union, and popular pets in the market. How many have you seen?
Shao Jianfeng, 26, keeps a bay crocodile at his home on the outskirts of Beijing. When it is fully grown, the crocodile, the largest reptile in the world, can reach a body length of 6 meters. "There are 23 species of crocodiles in the world," he said. I want to collect it all. "The retail price of the bay crocodile can reach 9,000 yuan. In the wild, they live mainly in Southeast Asia and northern Australia.
Wei Zheng, 31, is with his royal royal lizard. This is a species found in Africa. Many species in the genus King Lizard are listed as endangered by the IUCN.
Liu Feng, 53, is with his son's pet, the South American horned frog. The animal is native to Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. Because of its resemblance to the computer game character Pac-Man, the horned frog became a popular species in the collecting world. He and his son raised 30 different species of frogs at their home in central Beijing.
Wu Jiarui, 25, bought a short-tailed chinchilla at the Beijing Guanyuan Pet Market. Native to the Andes mountains of South America, this animal has become a popular pet in China. Due to poaching, many species of chinchillas are listed as wild endangered.
Liu Zhao, 25, has a crocodile turtle in his bedroom. Alligator turtles, classified as vulnerable creatures in the wild by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, generally live in the southeastern United States. Mr. Liu has been collecting animals since he was a child and now has more than 30 different frogs, three crocodile turtles and many snakes and turtles.
Ms. Yang, 27, puts a hat on her pet, the Eclectic Parrot. She quit her media job to start a company that makes and sells costumes for parrots. She sells her clothes online to her growing team of pet owners.
A veterinarian holds a rhesus monkey in a pet shop in downtown Beijing. In China, it is increasingly difficult to treat monkeys as pets, because most monkeys are prohibited by law. However, many young people see monkeys as unique exotic pets, elevating their status among their peers. Rhesus macaques are mainly produced in Southeast Asia.
Lu Tingting, 32, runs a pet shop in central Beijing. There, she kept a three-month-old pet, the raccoon, an animal native to North America. The guests of the pet shop are young people who come to do grooming services for pets.
An auricular fox does grooming at a pet shop in central Beijing. Native to the Sahara Desert in North Africa, this pet became popular because of a character in Disney's 2016 animated film Zootopia. The price per auricular fox can be between $2,000 and $3,000.
Mao Yueying, 27, with her pet , the Honey Marsapper Shrew , is at her home in Beijing. Honey kangaroos are native to the forests of Australia, Indonesia and New Guinea, but have become popular pets in China due to their small size and unique appearance. She raised three honey bag squirrels at home, and the most expensive white honey bag shrew cost 4,000 yuan.
The 30-year-old Wang Ke raised a red striped Gaigou Ya Shougong, a thin striped eyelash horn Shougong and a giant Shougong. These keepers can only be found in the forests of New Caledonia in the South Pacific, and many have been listed as endangered due to pressure from human activities.
Huang Jiachen, 20, is a snake collector. He has a pet python at home. Mr. Huang started out as a hobby of collecting animals, then began breeding exotic species and now sells them to pet markets in China. He also collected a variety of snakes from all over the world, especially vipers and pythons.
Zhang Bo, 36, is with a Mexican blood tarantula at the Guanyuan Pet Market in Beijing. The species is native to the deserts of Arizona and parts of Mexico in the United States. Mr. Zhang began collecting spiders in 2007 and began selling them through his store in Beijing in 2014.