The Exhibit Room also features several displays of cold-blooded creatures that can be found — naturally or not — living in Illinois. Reptiles include a softshell turtle, corn snakes, a fox snake, bull snake, garter snakes and a black rat snake; amphibians include a trio of tiger salamanders.

If you like your animals to have legs—many legs—check out Hickory Knolls’ Insectarium displays. Walking stick insects, hissing cockroaches and a tarantula, all live, are jumbo examples of insects and spiders that you can observe and learn from.

As you take in Hickory Knolls’ living exhibits, please remember that no animals were taken from the wild to be put on display; all were either owner surrenders or were captive bred specifically for education purposes.