Pop Quiz: Leopard Gecko

We just published an exotic pet suitability guide. Can you guess what risk WWF assessed for the leopard gecko?

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© David Lawson/WWF-UK

Good try. The correct answer is: Low risk

When you hear the word ''pet,'' you may immediately think of a dog or cat. But exotic pets are challenging that perception as the demand for more unusual animals has boomed in the past 20 years. They have become more accessible and easier to keep with new advances in food and housing.

media and the internet have popularized exotic animals as pets, making them much easier to buy with the press of a button. This means that anyone can purchase an exotic pet without knowing basic information about how to properly care for it, the behavioral or health risks to people and the animals, or where the animals were sourced from. And with lucrative smuggling and illegal sales thriving, it could be that the pet, or its parents, were stolen from the wild.

Check out WWF's new Exotic Pet Suitability Guide to learn more.

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