Three minutes to talk about popular science
When you mention the word "rat king", do you think of a giant rat?
However, in the history of Europe, the "rat king" represents a creepy phenomenon - a group of rats whose tails are entangled in an incomprehensible way, forming a deadly knot.
In the West, the appearance of the "Rat King" is often a sign of bad omen, and there is no reasonable explanation to this day. Let's unveil this mystery and find out what's going on.
Is the "Rat King" real?
It's no exaggeration to say that rats are probably one of the least popular members of the animal world – people either think of them as food thieves or as symbols of disease.
In fact, rats are far more terrifying than you think.
Historically, there have been so-called "rat king" events – but these aren't the "rat heads" who walk around with crowns and become leaders in caves or in your house's sewers.
The "Rat King" is the king of rats? Not!
The Rat King, in fact, is a huge, multi-limbed "mutant" rat formed by multiple rats entangled together, and their tails are permanently glued together and tied into a dead knot.
But this rat king will not become extinct – they will form a huge swirling colony of rats, living together, moving together, eating together, growing together...
Could this be real?
Doesn't that sound disgusting and bizarre? But this is by no means a Western myth or a country ghost story that scares children – they are real, and there are plenty of specimens to back them up!
The earliest reports of the "Rat King" are from 1564. At that time, the Rat King was seen as a bad omen. For good reason, rats carry diseases, and in the 16th century, this meant a deadly crisis for Europeans, such as the Black Death, the feared plague.
In the 16th century, a engraving of the "Rat King" shows a rat king consisting of 7 rats on the ground in the lower left corner.
Rat King print (partial clear version).
In principle, as long as the tails of two rats stick together, the "rat king" is formed.
However, in 1828, in a mill fireplace in Buchheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, the largest rat king to date was born, consisting of 32 rats!
It is impossible to imagine how this group of rats lived together and for how long. This huge "rat king mummy" was discovered in a fire and is currently on display at the Science Museum in Altenburg, Germany.
In 1930, a rat king appeared in New Zealand consisting of a group of black rat cubs, whose tails were entwined with horse hair. Currently, it is on display at the Otago Museum in Dunedin, New Zealand.
In 1963, a farmer in the Netherlands found a rat king consisting of seven rats in a barn. By the time zoologists who arrived to examine the rats, they were dead.
However, X-ray images show calluses even forming at the break in their tails, suggesting that the rat kings – or rats – have survived for quite a long time with their tails entwined.
In modern times, sightings of the "rat king" phenomenon have become very rare, but there are still some reports.
In 2005, a farmer from the Republic of Estonia witnessed a rat king, and many of the rats were still alive in the "rat king". Now this specimen is on display in the Museum of Zoology of the University of Tartu, Estonia.
In 2021, near the city of Stavropol, Russia, someone photographed a rat king made up of 5 rats that was still alive. Also, people helped untie their tails.
On October 20, 2021, a live rat king consisting of 13 rats was found in the Republic of Estonia. The rat king was brought to the University of Tartu, and since it was no longer possible to untie the knot in its tail, the rats were humanely euthanized. Currently, this rat king is also part of the Zoological Museum of the University of Tartu.
It is worth mentioning that most of the extant specimens of the "Rat King" are made of black rats.
But on March 23, 1918, the only rat king made up of 10 small rice rats was discovered in Bogor, Java, Indonesia.
Not only that, but the strange phenomenon of the "Rat King" is not limited to the world of rats. Can you believe it? There have also been several sightings of the "Squirrel King", a group of squirrels (just like rats) whose tails are entwined and cannot be separated from each other.
In Wisconsin, the king squirrel has been found to be composed of five small squirrels. Luckily, they were taken to the wildlife center, where the veterinarian, after anesthetizing them, performed a delicate "surgery" to untie the knotted tails and removed the "long-stemmed grass and the plastic strips used by the squirrel mother as nest material".
If they are not separated in time, it is difficult for them to live long, they may not be able to forage for food, and they may also be eaten by predators. But now, all 5 little ones are saved.
Mysterious conjectures about the "rat king", how did they come to be?
In 16th-century Europe, the appearance of the Rat King sparked deep fears and mystical conjectures. In European culture at the time, the rat was often seen as a symbol of **, associated with disease and death.
The appearance of the rat king phenomenon further reinforces the negative image of the rat as a harbinger of disaster. It is believed that the appearance of the Rat King may be a manifestation of witchcraft or ** power, intent on bringing misfortune and destruction to people.
Outside of science, the mysterious conjectures about the rat king have focused on explaining his strange phenomena. To this day, scientists still know very little about the cause of the rat king, but there are some conservative assumptions.
One possible explanation is that black rats live in a "dirty mess", but their tails are longer and more flexible, and they are more susceptible to sticky substances such as sebum, juice, food, or excrement, which act as the glue that forms the "rat king".
When rats congregate together for warmth during the winter months, the sticky material freezes or freezes while they sleep, causing their tails to become dead knots. Because most rat king specimens are found in winter and in small confined spaces, this speculation is plausible.
The "rat king" solution - why don't they bite off their tails?
For the existence of the Rat King, there are various voices on the Internet.
Although there are many specimens of the rat king in natural history museums across Europe, some people are completely dismissive of the existence of the rat king, believing that the "rat king" is nothing more than a prank orchestrated by merchants, and that the entwined rats are also artificially created.
Copper rat king handicrafts.
Some foreigners put forward their own ideas: "The tails of rats are not spaghetti - they have bones and nerves." If the rat king can really be formed, then logically, humans can also wrap their arms together to form a ** king. “
Some people even asked the soul: "The existence of the Rat King must be fake, otherwise why don't they kill each other, or bite off their tails to escape?" ”
That's right, this question is also on the minds of many people, why don't these rats take more self-protective measures in the case of tangled tails, but continue to coexist while forming deadly knots?
In fact, the tail of a mouse has an important function in its physiological structure and behavior.
First of all, rats' tails are different from some other animals that can be broken to survive, such as lizards, whose tails have the ability to break easily. The tail of a mouse is a complex structure composed of bones, muscles and **, and there are abundant blood vessels and nerves in the tail, once bitten off, it cannot regenerate like a lizard or gecko.
The tail of rats tends to play several important functions in their lives. The tail is the mouse's balancing organ that helps them maintain the balance of their bodies. Especially when crawling at heights or moving quickly, the balance function of the tail is crucial for mice.
Secondly, rats also regulate their body temperature through their tails. Rats are unable to dissipate heat by sweating, but regulate their body temperature through blood vessels in parts such as their tails.
Not only that, but the tail of the rat also plays a role in socialization and communication. It can convey information, such as in courtship and territorial battles, through the posture and swing of the tail.
Since tails have such a diverse function in the life of mice, biting or cutting off the tail can have a serious impact on the survival and normal behavior of rats. Not only can this impair their balance and thermoregulation, but it can also lead to pain and decreased viability.
As a result, rats usually do not actively bite or cut off their tails, and due to the complex structure of their tails, it is relatively difficult to unentangle other rats by biting off their tails.
Because for the mouse that has lost its tail, there is only a dead end to wait. Therefore, in 2021, the rat king, consisting of 13 rats, was discovered in the Republic of Estonia, and after discovering that it was impossible to untie their tails, they did not choose to cut it off, but directly euthanized it.
Throughout European history, the Rat King has always haunted people's imaginations with its mysterious and disturbing form. From the Black Death in the 16th century to today's highly technologically advanced era, people still can't agree on the interpretation of the rat king.
Is it an ingenious lie by a merchant, or is it an incomprehensible miracle in nature? The secret of the Rat King may remain on the fringes of science forever, leaving people with an endless space for speculation and conjecture.
In this mysterious tale of rats, we always seem to feel a touch of weirdness that transcends common sense. Whether it is a real wonder or a historical legend, the Rat King has left a strong mark in people's memories with his unique existence. Perhaps, it is this mystery and insolvability that makes the Rat King a mystery that will always be thought-provoking.