The rats were squeaking and struggling to escape but the harder they pulled the tighter the knot became.
Seven of the rats in the tangle were already dead.
Rein Kiv didnt know then, but what he had discovered was an extremely rare phenomenon called rat kings.
They have been sighted since the past five centuries with approximately 60 such sightings recorded in history books.
Rat king from Dellfeld, Germany, found in 1895.
Photo credit:Edelseider/Wikimedia
A handful of preserved specimens are also kept in various museums.
Nevertheless, the heavily compressed parts of the tails testified that the knot had once been very tight.
Rat kings are apparently a freak of nature, but what exactly causes them is debatable.
The explanation has a ring of truth considering that most rat kings were discovered in colder countries during winter.
Illustration of a rat king discovered in 1683.
There are large numbers of brown rats,R.
norvegicus, in Northern Europe and North America, but they do not create rat kings.
This is obviously due to their relatively shorter, thicker, and less flexible tails than inR.
Andrei Miljutin also believes that the occurrence of rat kings is more frequent than presumed.
Many discoveries never leave the local community and remains overlooked by scientists at large.
Besides, who knows how many rats kings remain buried in tunnels and underground burrows undiscovered?
Rats arent the only animal that can become entangled by their tails in this fashion.
They had to be separated by veterinarians.
A rat king at Chateaudun museum, France.
Photo credit:Selbymay/Wikimedia
A rat king preserved at the museum Mauritianum in Altenburg, Germany.
