Joey Santore and Tony Santoro[1] (born 1982 or 1983)[2] are the Internet aliases of an American amateur naturalist who runs the YouTube channel Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't.
[2] 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.
[3] He was raised in La Grange, Illinois and spent his childhood in Chicago[4] where he showed an interest in science from a young age, frequenting the Field Museum and growing trees in the family backyard.
[3] He spent the next three years traveling across the United States by freight train, eventually attending Pima Community College, where an astronomy textbook reignited his interest in the sciences.
[7][8] 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".