Joey Santore

Joey Santore and Tony Santoro (born )'

Early life and education Born to an elementary school teacher mother and a father who left his family when Santore was one year old, he took his last name from his grandmother who was an immigrant from Italy. He was raised in La Grange, Illinois and spent his childhood in Chicago where he showed an interest in science from a young age, frequenting the Field Museum and growing trees in the family backyard. He attended and was subsequently kicked out of military school as a teenager and became involved in the punk scene.

On the channel Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't, Santore's videos focus on a self-described "lowbrow approach to plant ecology" that facilitates his traveling to various environments, which he records in photos, videos, and a podcast. He also creates hand-drawn stickers of flowers to sell online. Since the success of his channel, he stopped working as a driver in order to travel internationally full-time as an amateur ecologist,

In May 2023, Santore recorded a viral video of a snapping turtle sunning itself on a rusted chain in the Chicago River, which Scorch named "Chonkosaurus". The video demonstrated the great improvement in the health of the river which only decades before was heavily polluted.

Ecological trips In 2017, Santore traveled to Texas and explored the plants in the region around Big Bend and the Buda Formation. He returned to the state in 2019 to observe the Catahoula Formation region and the land near the Rio Grande.

In 2025 his first book was published, Concrete Botany: The Ecology of Plants in the Age of Human Disturbance''. It received positive reviews from both the academic and popular plant communities for continuing his informal style in print, as well as his passionate advocation.

Personal life Santore lives in South Texas.