steban Rodriguez, supervisor of mechanics for New York City's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), thought he was having a normal day at work back in 1989 when his colleague, Larry Miller, called him on the radio. He could barely believe what he heard. Miller reported that he had found a dead alligator down at the grit chamber underneath Manhattan's sewers system. The grit chamber is the last place in the sewers where nonliquid items are separated from the water. As for the alligator, Rodriguez never took it as a joke. "Miller knew I was a volunteer with the Bronx Zoo, so he called me," says Rodriguez.

As an employee at city's DEP who works in the sewers, Rodriguez was well aware of the alligator-in-the-sewer legend. And so was Miller, who first thought that he had found a big toy, not the real thing.

"Everything finds its way down to the sewers, including reptiles," says Rodriguez. The truth is that what Miller found wasn’t technically an alligator, but in fact a relative from the crocodile(and alligator) family: a caiman. Miller’s mistake is common. Caimans and alligators look similar, but Rodriguez knows how to differentiate them based on size and other physical characteristics.

Herpetologists explain that alligators cannot survive in the sewers, much less breed there. The dead caiman that Miller found proves the theory. However, the stories of other DEP employees seeing alligators linger on, even if they have never caught one alive. "It’s like the Loch Ness Monster or the Big Foot. People believe in those stories up to a point that it does make sense," Rodriguez says.

One of the most frequent finds in the sewers is jewelry. Rodriguez says that it’s impossible to count how many rings, watches and earrings have been found down there.

Although there aren’t any alligators, other reptiles such as turtles and snakes can be easily found. As for the snakes, people also flush them down the toilet, and they actually survive. Rodriguez, a home breeder of snakes himself, offers advice for those who want to breed reptiles: "People who aren’t ready for the experience shouldn’t do it. They give us a bad name."