Animals & Nature
The use of chemicals to treat a grub infestation in Welles Park led some people to question whether there weren't natural alternatives. Why not let skunks take care of the problem? How about setting loose a flock of backyard chickens?
So little prairie still exists in Illinois, most residents of the state have never encountered this rare landscape. Here, then, is an introduction.
Members of the coalition that sprung up to save Bell Bowl Prairie from demolition by the Rockford Airport are allowing themselves a brief victory lap to celebrate a temporary suspension of construction.
June beetle larvae are responsible for devastating a pair of North Side parks. The Chicago Park District is set to begin treating the infestation, but things could get worse before they get better.
The Natural Land Institute filed suit Wednesday in U.S. District Court to stop the Greater Rockford Airport Authority from tearing up the 8,000-year-old Bell Bowl Prairie as part of an airport expansion project.
In a dramatic 11th-hour turnaround, Chicago Rockford International Airport officials announced Thursday a change in plans affecting the 8,000-year-old Bell Bowl Prairie remnant. Construction slated to resume Monday has been suspended until further consultations with federal agencies are completed.
One of Monty and Rose’s grand-chicks, which hatched this summer in Ohio, never migrated south. The plover will spend the winter being cared for at the Detroit Zoo.
Have you ever wanted to get a fish but had no idea where to start? We head to Wicker Park to meet Jamie Dalton, who began creating educational aquarium videos during the pandemic which led her to a new business venture.
Supporters of the movement to save Bell Bowl Prairie, a small patch of rare remnant prairie situated within the boundaries of Chicago Rockford International Airport, say they have a simple solution that preserves the prairie and allows the airport to expand: Just move a road.
Conservationists are in a race against the clock to save a five-acre patch of rare Illinois prairie from being bulldozed as part of a 280-acre expansion of the Chicago Rockford International Airport's cargo operation.
The 11-year-old tiger had received her first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine developed for animals. The zoo is now awaiting test results for other big cats that are exhibiting symptoms similar to the infected tiger’s.
One of North America’s most common native bumble bee species, the aptly named American bumble bee, is on the ropes. Among the threats to its survival: competition from honey bees.
Death’s come knocking a last time for the splendid ivory-billed woodpecker and 22 more birds, fish and other species: The U.S. government on Wednesday declared them extinct.
There are hundreds of species of mantis shrimp — crustaceans measuring anywhere from 1-12 inches long. The peacock mantis shrimp, indigenous to the waters of Indonesia, has a specific trait that humans are trying to replicate.
Capybaras, native to Central and South America, are the largest members of the rodent family, tipping the scales at 130 pounds. Three of them have just arrived at the Brookfield Zoo.
A wetlands restoration project is underway at Powderhorn Lake Forest Preserve in the Calumet region, where construction of a human-made water control device will recreate a more natural system of drainage.