Zero. When Mary Hennen was growing up, that was the total number of peregrine falcons living anywhere near her home in Chicago. Even in the wilder areas…

The person responsible for Kay Havens’ early interest in interest in science was female: her mother. Together, they collected, studied, and identified…

What would you do if you were required to catch something—an animal—that you knew nothing about. In the entire world, there was literally no one you could ask for help, not one…

Each weekend when Krissa Skogen was a kid, she went with her family to a lake in western Minnesota. The six of them camped in tents on a small property where there was no…

After first considering life as a musician, Greg Mueller’s professional aspirations took a surprising turn when a college class introduced him to mushrooms in the forests of…

When Peggy Macnamara was a young mother of five children, she didn’t relinquish her art practice. Each morning she left her house and drove straight to the nearest natural history museum…

“Ecological theater is happening all around us.” Seth Magle is a biologist and the director of the Urban Wildlife Institute at the Lincoln Park Zoo. After finishing a dissertation on urban prairie dogs, Seth Magle started looking around at the astonishing number of species of wild animals that choose—for whatever crazy reason—to live right next…

Host Jill Riddell explains the what, why and when of Season One.