A green-winged macaw being trained prior to its release in the Iberá Park in Corrientes, Argentina (Beth Wald / Lincoln Park Zoo)

Conservationists from around the world are gathering this week to focus on saving threatened species and reintroducing them into the wild.

An Eastern meadowlark (Seri Douse / Great Backyard Bird Count)

A first-of-its-kind survey of the Chicago area’s remaining grasslands could be good news for several species of threatened birds that once thrived across Illinois.

A male hihi bird on Tiritiri Matangi Island, New Zealand (Duncan Wright / Wikipedia)

For the second time this year, Chicago’s DryHop Brewers is joining forces with Lincoln Park Zoo in the name of wildlife conservation, this time for a rare and endangered New Zealand bird.

A group of Mexican wolves at Brookfield Zoo (Jim Schulz / Chicago Zoological Society)

They are one of the most successful packs within the nationwide Mexican Wolf Recovery Program, but nine of the 10 wolves will leave Chicago for new homes as part of a plan to help save the endangered species.

Layla, an eastern black rhinoceros at Brookfield Zoo (Courtesy Chicago Zoological Society)

The 2,300-pound rhinoceros, Layla, logged an important milestone this week, celebrating her eighth birthday just months after overcoming a near-deadly infection.

(Brenna Hernandez / Shedd Aquarium)

As part of a new partnership aimed at preserving the endangered Great Lakes species, the turtles will remain at Shedd until they are big enough to be released back into the wild at a protected site in DuPage County.

(Jim Schulz / Chicago Zoological Society)

The completely blind amphibians, found in Texas, are a translucent white color with bright red gills. Brookfield Zoo is one of just three North American institutions to host the rare creatures.

David, a young male pangolin, is part of Brookfield Zoo’s “Habitat Africa! The Forest” exhibit. (Courtesy Chicago Zoological Society)

More than a million pangolins have been poached from the wild in the past 10-15 years, according to Brookfield Zoo. What conservationists are doing to change that.

Ivory seized Feb. 2, 2018 from poachers convicted of killing 11 elephants in and around Nouabale-Ndoki National Park in the Republic of Congo. (Z. Labuschagne / Wildlife Conservation Society)

As part of a growing movement to undermine the bloody practice of elephant and rhino poaching, Illinois has become the ninth state to ban the sale of ivory and rhino horn.

Conservationists are preparing to release about 20 smooth green snakes, like the one pictured here, into an enclosed setting on July 25. (Courtesy Lincoln Park Zoo)

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

Two wild-born Mexican gray wolf puppies arrive at Brookfield Zoo as part of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s recovery program for the species. (Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team / Chicago Zoological Society)

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.

(Cathy Bazzoni / Chicago Zoological Society)

Brookfield Zoo welcomed two newborn Amur leopards in April. The male cubs are scheduled to make their public debut in mid-July. 

(Courtesy Chicago Zoological Society)

The latest member of Brookfield Zoo’s four-generation family of western lowland gorillas was born June 1, the third offspring of Koola, the newborn’s 23-year-old mother. 

Ivory seized Feb. 2 from poachers convicted of killing 11 elephants in and around Nouabale-Ndoki National Park in the Republic of Congo. (Z. Labuschagne / Wildlife Conservation Society)
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A growing number of states are taking up bans on the sale of ivory in an effort to curb elephant and rhinoceros poaching and undermine the $20 billion-per-year enterprise of wildlife trafficking. Illinois could be next.

Michelle Soszynski, a senior veterinary technician at Brookfield Zoo, monitors Layla, a 7.5-year-old eastern black rhinoceros, as she receives a CT scan inside Brookfield Zoo’s Pachyderm House. (Jim Schulz / Chicago Zoological Society)

Following a historic diagnostic procedure last month, Layla, a 2,300-pound eastern black rhinoceros, underwent life-saving surgery last week to relieve an infection.