Last week, the students on the Hamilton NYC program were busy with a rather unusual activity — The NYC Rat Safari. Under the guidance of Dr. Robert ‘Bobby’ Corrigan, a world-renowned authority on urban rat behavior, we went around the city looking at rat habitats and learning more about these interesting creatures. Accompanying us was Matt Combs ’13, now a graduate student in biology at Fordham University; Corrigan is his thesis advisor.
We started our safari at 8 p.m. — that’s when the rats start foraging the city for food. We visited a subway station, several parks, specifically Columbus Park which at one time had over 200 rat burrows. Corrigan pointed out the factors that make a location favorable to rats, and we saw a decent number coming out of burrows, sliding into sewer openings, and scurrying out from under piles of garbage bags.
After about two hours of this adventure, our beloved Professor Chambliss treated us to frozen yogurt at Red’s Mango — a perfect way to end an eventful day!
