Recently, a Russian man named Alibulat Rasulov found five baby rats with their tails intertwined in the farmland in the Tavropol region. In fact, this is not the first discovery. This strange phenomenon was discovered in Germany as early as the 16th century. Due to the fear of rats, many people believe that when a rat appears with its tail tangled, it often means disaster.
The "Rat King" photographed by Rasulov
This kind of rat with its tails entangled is called the "Rat King", but how did they come into being? Does the occurrence of this phenomenon really mean that there is a disaster?
"The Rat King" is not the King of Rats
This strange phenomenon was first witnessed in Germany in 1564. Due to a lack of scientific understanding, rats spread the Black Death in Europe. People believed that the appearance of a rat with its tails connected was an ominous sign and meant the coming of the plague. They also gave these rats with their tails connected together a very domineering name - Rat King ( Rattenkönig). Both Britain and France borrowed this word to describe those rats with their tails connected together.
was called this because people at the time thought these rats with their tangled tails were one big rat with multiple bodies. They believe that the one in the middle is the "brain" of the Rat King, which is responsible for directing the activities of other "limbs".
Medieval paintings about the Rat King
There have been many sighting records of the Rat King in Europe. Many rats with their tails intertwined have been made into specimens for display. The Science Museum in Altenburg, Germany, has the largest and most famous specimen of the rat king. This rat king was found in the ruins of a flour mill in Buheim in 1828, with a total of 32 rats.
Not only European rats will have their tails intertwined, but also Asian rats. On March 23, 1918, someone discovered a medium-sized rat king in Bogor, Indonesia. This rat king was composed of 10 small rice rats.
The stuffed rat king
What’s interesting is that although the rat with its tails entangled is very inconvenient, it can still survive for a period of time. In 1963, a Dutch farmer named P. van Ninatern discovered a rat king. This rat king consisted of 7 mice. After X-ray inspection, it was found that there was a layer of on the surface of their tails. Callosum (piánzhī). The formation principle of calluses is similar to that of calluses. They are both keratin hyperplasia caused by long-term wear and tear of the skin. Mice have calluses in their tails, meaning they have been alive for a long time after their tails became entangled. This astonishing discovery was later written and published in a book by cryptozoologist M. Skaninder. Why does "Rat King" appear in
?
Due to their limited cognition, people in the Middle Ages naturally believed that mice with their tails intertwined were the creations of the devil. The French have a more vivid representation of the Rat King. Their word for the Rat King evolved from the wheel rat (rouets des rats). The rat with its tangled tail is as terrifying as the devil's wheel. But science shows that the tangled tails of mice are completely natural and do not indicate anything. So why does the Rat King appear?
The stuffed rat king
(1) Rats are stained with sticky substances
Rats are used to moving in groups and like to go to human kitchens to steal food. During this process, the rat's tail is inevitably contaminated with sticky substances such as syrup and honey. Unlike humans, rats do not have the habit of cleaning after meals, and their tails covered in "glue" stick to the tails of other rats. If this group of rats that steal and eat food is large enough, it can easily form a large rat king consisting of twenty or thirty rats.
To be honest, mice definitely don’t like to become the “Rat King”. Because they are easily discovered by natural enemies, it is also much easier for natural enemies to prey on them.Moreover, it is inconvenient for mice stuck together to find food. Some unlucky ones will definitely starve to death because they have nothing to eat. But because they didn't know how to wash off the "glue" on their tails, no one dared to cut off their tails to escape. The mouse can only survive like this, one day at a time.
Artistic Expression of the Rat King
(2) Other factors
There is another possibility, that is, the tail of the mouse is tied together by foreign objects. When the five little mice in Russia were found, they were tied to a grass with their tails wrapped around their tails. Rasulov could take the mice off the grass with his hands. Rasulov believed that the mother rat tied the tails of her cubs and hung them on the grass, because the "Rat King" was next to a flooded watermelon field.
Of course, this does not rule out the possibility of an artificial rat king. In order to become famous on the Internet, Rasulov most likely anesthetized five little mice. Then tie the mouse tails together into a tight knot. After doing this, he hung the "Rat King" on the grass, then pretended to accidentally discover the Rat King and shot a video to upload to social media.
It is also difficult to prove the authenticity of the Rat King incidents witnessed in the Middle Ages, because these incidents are so far away that it is impossible to trace the details of the incidents at that time. In the dark Middle Ages, the power of the church covered the sky with only one hand. In order to maintain their dominance, believers inevitably take advantage of people's fear of mice and superstition about God to create panic.
It is very simple to create panic. You only need a small amount of honey or syrup and a few caught mice to create a rat king. Once this artificial rat king is built and released in a densely populated area, it will naturally cause panic. If the church interferes a little bit, its ultimate goal of maintaining its control over the territory will be achieved. After all, it is not a new thing for human beings to forge miracles to promote their claims or achieve their goals, such as "the book is hidden in the fish belly" and "the heavenly father is on the body".
The Yellow Turban Army who plays tricks
Squirrels also exist as "rat kings"
What's interesting is that in the world, in addition to the tails of mice, the tails of squirrels are also tangled together. Naturally, these squirrels with their tangled tails are also known as the "Squirrel King". Just in May 2018, someone in Nebraska, USA, discovered six squirrels whose tails were unfortunately stuck to resin. In an interview with a reporter, local resident Craig Lutman described the scene at the time:
I found six little squirrels about eight weeks old whose tails were entangled with each other and stuck to a pine tree. It's like they're in a tug-of-war , each one facing a different direction.
Tangled squirrels
Seeing the six little squirrels struggling but unable to move, Lutman immediately called and reported the situation to the local wildlife rescue center. The staff of the rescue center immediately sent people to rescue the six little ones. A little squirrel. They first gave the six squirrels painkillers, which had no obvious side effects, and then cleaned their knotted tails. Because the tails of a few squirrels were completely stuck together, doctors had to perform surgery to remove part of the tail. After the treatment was completed, the staff gradually released the recovered squirrels back into the wild.
Fortunately, these six squirrels met a kind person. Otherwise, they will starve to death because they cannot move, and the starved squirrels will become food for other carnivores. From this case, it is not difficult to find that apart from the church that pretends to be a god and the video bloggers who want to gain attention, the naturally formed rat king is very likely to actually exist.
The "Squirrel King" is preparing for surgery to untie his tail
Why do the "Mouse King" and the "Squirrel King" have different endings?
Although mice and squirrels are both rodents, the formation principle of the "Rat King" is exactly the same as that of the "Squirrel King". But the Rat King will only be beaten to death by humans, or made into specimens for people to visit. Squirrels, however, can be treated well and released back into the wild. This is really not to blame for human beings' partiality. Rats get the treatment they deserve because of their many evil deeds.
The most hated thing about rats is that they spread diseases.Rats have a tenacious vitality, and many bacteria and viruses that can cause human infections are transmitted to humans through rats. As a host, mice will not interfere with these pathogenic bacteria at all. The Black Death, which frightened Europeans, was spread through rats, an important host.
Europeans infected with the Black Death
Rats The next most disgusting thing is the habit of stealing. Rats are burrowing animals and are accustomed to traveling out of their nests in search of food. Rats have extremely strong reproductive capabilities and naturally require a large amount of food. Since rats like to build their nests close to human homes, human kitchens and granaries are places frequented by rats. Many grains and food that have been spoiled by rats can only be destroyed because they are very likely to be contaminated by bacteria carried by rats.
Rats that steal food
Conclusion
Compared with humans living in the Middle Ages, humans in the 21st century have taken a big step forward in their understanding of nature and science. The rat king that humans were afraid of in the past has been proven to have no necessary connection with the plague. However, we cannot become complacent. Because with the advancement of cognition, deception using strange phenomena as a gimmick will become more and more sophisticated.
