Russian Farmer Discovers Terrifying 'Rat King,' Believed to Signal 'Impending Plague'

A Russian farmer in Stavropol region had found a ratpack with intertwined tails, like an unexpected 'royal' visitor among the puddles of the so-called rat king.

The five rodents bizarrely bound together struggled to scurry in different directions at a flooded watermelon field, whose tails had become so knotted together that they can't free themselves. This rare moment is more commonly known as a 'rat king' phenomenon.

Historically, this alleged phenomenon is particularly associated with Germany, where several specimens preserved in museums can be located. However, very few instances of rat kings have been observed in modern times, which makes this sighting quite the unexpected.

A sign of an impending plague or famine

The rat king phenomenon had been inspired from myths and legends for centuries, often cited in folklore as a bad omen, symbolically warning of a coming plague or famine.

On Aug. 21, Alibulat Rasulov, landowner, found rat king in his field and shared two videos on Instagram showing five small, soggy rats with their tails hopelessly tangled. He wrote: "The Rat King is found alive. Part one" and "The Rat King was found alive for the first time. Part two". It had garnered more than 30,000 views and can be rather baffling of how these rodents managed to get knotted up together.

Rasulov believed that they were somehow secured together by their mother, to prevent them from falling into the swamp of the flooded field.

Until now, experts remain curious on the 'eerie occurrence', as there are very few events that had ever been recorded. Truly, its origins are highly debatable.

Several deceased rat kings are preserved in the collections of natural history museums, including the 10-rat 'roi de rats' specimen in Strasbourg Zoological Museum, France. The group was originally sighted in Dellfeld, Germany, and was donated to the museum in 1895.

The first-known report of the 'rat king' can be dated back to 1564.

A 'Rat King' Secret

This curious phenomenon of tangled tails had never been fully and efficiently explained. Some believe that they are sign of bad luck and associated with the Black Death for carrying diseases, while some say they simply glued their tails by accidents from exposure to sticky substances, such as sap or gum.

Meanwhile, Emma Burns, curator of natural science at Otago Museum, believes that rat kings could theoretically be natural. She explained that "some rats have tails that have a natural clasping reflex which could cause them to become bound together."

As rare as it is, this phenomenon has also been observed in squirrels and cats.

In 2017, four baby squirrels in Bangor, Maine had been caught in a video, entangling their tails. It is possible that their tails captured something sticky, like tree sap, and then solidified.

It is thought that a pack in a 'rat king' situation will most likely not survive when tied up for long, as it will impair their search for food and escape from predators.