Most of the costs arose from city workers putting up and removing barricades to keep people away from the lagoon in Humboldt Park after the male reptile was first spotted there last month.

A new study offers a framework cities can use to begin measuring the mental health benefits of nature, while helping municipal planners and policymakers integrate nature into their projects. 

Jeanne Nolan shows us how to harvest red onions, garlic, scallions and edible weeds from our organic garden at WTTW.

The massive art project that got the attention of students across the globe is part of an educational initiative aimed at preserving oceans and the people who live closest to them.

Save a horse, ride a bike. That’s the message some Chicago animal welfare advocates are looking to send by sponsoring one of the pedicabs that shuttles riders along Michigan Avenue.

As a heat wave moved across the Chicago area last week, polar and grizzly bears stayed cool at the zoo with fruit-filled blocks of ice weighing 300 pounds.

The festival had been scheduled for Aug. 23-24 at Montrose Beach, where a pair of endangered piping plovers established a nest this spring. 

The 4-foot, 18-pound American alligator will stay alone for 90 days to make sure he is illness-free, and then join other gators, says St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park Director John Brueggen.

The 151-year-old zoo will continue to offer free admission for the next 30-plus years after agreeing to an extended contract with the city.

You’re not crazy. A local expert says people are seeing “substantially more flashing activity in the evening.” He tells us why there are so many of our favorite summertime bug – and why they light up.

The alligator had a good run as day after day the people hunting for him in a Chicago lagoon came up empty, but in the end he was no match for an expert the city shipped in from Florida.

Sections of Humboldt Park are closed Monday while the search continues for the elusive gator, which is at least 4 feet long. 

Dozens of people lined a wall overlooking the Humboldt Park Lagoon on Friday waiting for a glimpse of an elusive alligator that continues to evade authorities’ efforts to capture it.

Two sea otter pups rescued recently off the coast of California have a new home in Chicago where they are now “thriving,” according to the aquarium.

Environmental nonprofit Openlands created a new online tool to help Chicago-area residents easily identify ways to explore the outdoors in and around the city. 

As the search for the Humboldt Park Lagoon alligator continues, learn more about these fear-inducing creatures – and why they shouldn’t be brought home as a pet.