I Have Heard Of,

and seen photographs or illustrations of Rat Kings,

photograph Alibulat Rasulov, the phenomena occurs when a group of rats get their tails entangled and can not free themselves, the phenomenon dates back to the 16th century, scientists have yet to properly understand how and why it occurs, or even if it is a natural phenomenon or just a man-made hoax, the discovery of a new rat king in a flooded field in Russia has once again brought the very existence of the phenomenon into the debate, Russian farmer Alibulat Rasulov, who owns agricultural land in the country’s Stavropol region, shared an unusual finding on social media, late last month, in a short clip, he showcases five small field rats  – some alive, some drowned – with their tails tangled in a large knot,

no example of live rats becoming entangled in this way have been reported in modern times, leading some to believe that it is nothing but a man-made hoax, but the most widely accepted theory is that in the case of black field rats, which have very long tails and live together in tight quarters during winter, the tails may come in contact with a sticky or frozen substance (sap, sebum, urine, etc). This causes the tails to become glued together, and the rats then get even more entangled as they try to break free and pull in opposite directions,

 a very similar phenomenon has been observed in other long-tailed rodents, like squirrels, some of which have even been caught on camera, the opinion of scientists and historians on the existence of rat king is mixed, some believe this natural tail entanglement could theoretically occur naturally, while others are convinced that it is just a myth perpetuated by fake examples, so fake or real? as has been said before, 'up to you!'