Conservation-minded volunteers in suburban Barrington are attracting snakes to their own backyards – on purpose.

Nearly four years in the making, a plan by Southeast Side residents to build a park for their four-legged friends is coming to life.

At River Park on Chicago’s Northwest Side, a concrete dam standing 4 feet high is being prepped for removal. But it’s not just any dam – this happens to be the last waterfall within Chicago city limits.

With the 30th anniversary of the Discovery Channel’s popular “Shark Week” fast approaching, the Shedd Aquarium is calling on visitors to help protect a key habitat for “one of the world’s most misunderstood species.”

A dozen states have enacted laws granting criminal immunity to those who enter vehicles to rescue domestic animals that appear to be suffering. Should Illinois be the 13th? 

City Hall insiders said she was “warehousing” dogs – but the ousted executive director of the city’s animal shelter denies that claim. Susan Russell joins us in discussion.

In what is an extremely rare occurrence, a male weedy sea dragons recently accepted an egg transfer from a female and is now carrying 46 fertile eggs on his tail.

So far this year, nearly a dozen bats have tested positive for rabies in Cook and Will counties alone.

To help mark its 125th anniversary, the Field Museum is preparing to release a gin made in the spirit of one of the biggest events in Chicago history.

Their recovery has been a national concern for decades. What’s happening locally in the effort to save the Mexican wolf.

Orangutans are one of humankind’s closest cousins. We meet a baby orangutan as she takes a trip to the doctor.

The ouster last weekend of Chicago Animal Care and Control’s executive director, whose short tenure resulted in the fewest instances of euthanasia at the agency since that data has been recorded, has got folks howling across the city.

Slight increases in temperature could lead to the extinction of bees in southwestern states in the near future, according to a new study from Northwestern University and the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Shedd Aquarium is rolling out several new outdoor programs this summer aimed at bringing Chicagoans closer to local waters and aquatic life.

Nearly three years after becoming the first corpse flower to bloom at the Chicago Botanic Garden, Alice the Amorphophallus is on the verge of blooming again.

Nearly two dozen laboratory mice will be launched into orbit next week as part of a Northwestern-led research mission to learn more about the physiological effects of living in space.