The city rat

If you live in a large city, you're always near rats. No matter where you are or what time it is. I recently read a book about rats in New York city. It was called, Rats. The author, Robert Sullivan, lived and is continuing to live in New York. He wrote this book to inform us readers on rats, there habitat, life style, and history. During the writing process of this book, he would sit in an old alley called Edens alley almost every night. He would observe them, but never disturb them. The rats never even knew he was there.

Reading this book, I learned many interesting facts about rats. Rats always live where humans live, always. Also, they're under constant stress, 24/7. The rats that you see in most eastern cities, are Brown rats, also known as Norway rats (Rattus Norvegicus). The Black rat (Rattus Rattus) used to live in eastern cities, but got pushed out to the western cities when the Brown rats came from europe. The average rat is about 16 inches long, and weighs 1 pound. They're very skittish, neophobic creatures. Also, they tend to be good swimmers. Rats have yellow teeth that naturally grow into buck teeth, and when eating, they prefer to gnaw. Instead of running, they like to gallop. In New York city, there is one rat for every 36 people. Heres a cool fact I bet you will find interesting, a rat's favorite food is scrambled eggs, and its least favorite is raw beets.

So in conclusion, I really liked this book. I found it very informative and captivating. If you're interested in rats and live in the city, I think this book will be perfect for you.