Blue Jays can be loud, aggressive and sometimes threatening to smaller birds. They eat insects, seeds, grains and love acorns. The pigment in their feathers is melanin, but we perceive them as blue due to light scattering. Blue Jays belong to the Corvidae family, which are considered to be among the most intelligent birds in the world. They use vocalizations and body language to communicate with other birds. Blue jays also collect paint chips as a source of calcium in the spr

There are two types of animal gift giving: nuptial and non-nuptial. Nuptial gifts are tokens given when wooing a mate or someone special. Spiders, Gentoo penguins, and birds are all known for leaving nuptial gifts. Non-nuptial gifts are those given for fun, to say thanks, or to build relationships. Animals who are known for their non-nuptial gifts are crows, bonobos, and dolphins. Whether it be a paperclip, a pebble, or food, animals give gifts to express gratitude, love, and

Wild turkeys are different than domesticated turkeys we feast on for Thanksgiving. Though almost on the brink of extinction in the early 1900s, successful reintroduction efforts helped their population grow. Wild turkeys can fly short distances and have between 5,000 to 6,000 feathers. Only males can gobble, but all wild turkeys use many different vocalizations. It is a tall tale that Benjamin Franklin would have preferred the wild turkey to be America’s national bird rather

A key part of a caterpillar's transformation into a butterfly or a moth is a chrysalis or a cocoon within the transitional pupal stage. For butterflies, metamorphosis occurs inside a chrysalis. For moths, this transformation occurs inside a cocoon. Chrysalides are hard, smooth exoskeletons while cocoons are spun from silk. Chrysalises can be found hanging from a structure while cocoons are buried in the ground or on the side of a structure. Both coverings offer protection to

America’s prairies once spanned 170 million acres but now less than 1% remains due to farming. Illinois was mostly prairie in 1820, earning its nickname the Prairie State, but most has since vanished. Prairies support rich plant and animal life and exist worldwide under other names. The loss of prairie contributed to the 1930s Dust Bowl, as replacing deep-rooted prairie plants with shallow crops led to soil erosion and massive dust storms.

Beetles have adapted for survival in many ways. They have outer shells, formally known as exoskeletons, that act as an armored shield, they can excrete unpleasant smells that are stored in their bodies to keep predators away, and some have evolved to be red which is a color that indicates warning in nature. Their red shells is a way of saying stay away to predators. Some beetles, like the ladybug, play dead and can release smelly blood from their legs in a process called refl

Many people mistake harmless northern water snakes for venomous cottonmouths, but no venomous snakes live in Will County. Cottonmouths, also called water moccasins, only live in southern Illinois. While both snakes look similar, cottonmouths have thicker bodies, block-shaped heads, and heat-sensing pits. Northern water snakes are thinner, with round pupils and no pits. If you see a snake in the water here, it’s not venomous.

Hundreds of years ago, lions, bison, black bears, cougars, elks, gray wolves and porcupines use to roam modern day Illinois. However, as land use in the state began to change during the 1800s, so did the plants and animals that lived here. Prairies and forests were replaced with agricultural fields causing animals to move to more suitable habitats while others were hunted or driven away.