A strange rumor once swept through Paris: a crocodile was said to be prowling the city’s ancient sewers. Most dismissed it as an urban myth , until March 1984, when sewer workers really did find a Nile crocodile under Rue du Pont-Neuf. The reptile, later named Éléonore, had likely survived by feeding on rats and scraps.
She was brought to the Jardin des Plantes and then moved to an aquarium in Brittany, where her enclosure was even designed to look like a Paris sewer. Over the years Éléonore grew to more than four meters long and weighed around 200 kilos. In 2020 she was transferred to a crocodile reserve, and though she passed away the following year, her incredible journey from Paris’s underground tunnels to decades in captivity remains one of the city’s most unusual true stories.
About the Author
Abby Parks has authored a fiction novel, theatrical plays, short stories, poems, and song lyrics. She's recorded two albums of her original songs, and is a multi-instrumentalist. She has managed a website for folk music and written articles on singer-songwriters, folk bands, and other things music-oriented. She's also a radio DJ for a folk music show.
As well as having been a pet parent to rabbits, birds, dogs, and cats, Abby loves seeking sightings of animals in the wild and has witnessed some more exotic ones such as Puffins in the Farne Islands, Southern Pudu on the island of Chiloe (Chile), Penguins in the wild, and countless wild animals in the Rocky Mountains (Big Horn Sheep, Mountain Goats, Moose, Elk, Marmots, Beavers).
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