It’s been a long slide for greyhound racing, which reached its peak in the 1980s when there were more than 50 tracks across 19 states. Since then, increased concerns about how the dogs are treated along with an explosion of gambling options have nearly killed a sport that gained widespread appeal about a century ago.

The recent births highlight the success of restoration and conservation efforts in Illinois.

The four-day global challenge runs Friday through Monday and encourages people to record their observations of local plants and wildlife in what’s known as a “bioblitz.” Chicago just missed out on a Top 20 finish in 2021.

A trio of measures introduced at Wednesday’s Chicago City Council meeting would allocate a total of $2.5 million toward habitat and open space improvement projects.

More than 1 in 5 species of reptiles worldwide are threatened with extinction, according to a comprehensive new assessment of thousands of species published Wednesday in the journal Nature. Work on the reptile study – which involved nearly 1,000 scientists and 52 co-authors – started in 2005.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources issued the recommendation Thursday. Their advice is to halt use of bird baths and bird feeders through the end of May.

Bird flu cases have been identified in commercial chicken and turkey farms or in backyard flocks in 29 states, according to the USDA. Spread of the disease is largely blamed on the droppings of infected migrating wild birds.

Monty the piping plover has once again seemingly defied physics and returned to Chicago a mere day after reportedly leaving his wintering grounds in Texas.

The DuPage Forest Preserve District board, which operates and funds the center, approved a plan for a new clinic that meets 21st century needs and standards and promises to be the district's first net-zero building. 

Chicago-area birds are nesting and laying eggs earlier than ever before. A mysterious meteor burns up over Papua New Guinea. A fossil could rewrite the history of the evolution of life on Earth. And a disturbing finding about microplastics.

NextEra Energy subsidiary ESI Energy pleaded guilty to three counts of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act during a Tuesday court appearance in Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was charged in the deaths of eagles at three of its wind farms in Wyoming and New Mexico.

Brookfield Zoo is celebrating the arrival of an adorable baby porcupine. We had to know: How do mama porcupines give birth safely? 

The cub was born March 15, with its sex still unknown. Mom Zari and dad Jabari both arrived at the zoo in 2021 for the opening of the Pepper Family Wildlife Center.

Climate scientists at the University of Michigan looked at 15 different plant pollens in the United States and used computer simulations to calculate how much worse allergy season will likely get by the year 2100. It’s enough to make allergy sufferers even more red-eyed.

Skunk cabbage is one of the first native plants to emerge from the frozen winter ground in the Chicago area. Its powerful aroma isn’t the only quirky thing about this plant.

Field studies over the past few weeks — a collective effort known as the “Winter Grab” — were intended to boost knowledge of what happens in the five lakes when they’re covered partially or completely with ice.