![]() Specimens of purported rat kings are kept in some museums. Most extant examples are formed from black rats ( Rattus rattus). The earliest report of rat kings comes from 1564. Rat king depicted in 16th-century woodcut Īn alternative theory states that the name in French was rouet de rats (or a spinning wheel of rats, the knotted tails being wheel spokes), with the term transforming over time into roi des rats, because formerly French oi was pronounced or similar nowadays it is pronounced. ![]() Conrad Gesner in Historia animalium (1551–58) stated: "Some would have it that the rat waxes mighty in its old age and is fed by its young: this is called the rat king." Martin Luther stated: "finally, there is the Pope, the king of rats right at the top." Later, the term referred to a king sitting on a throne of knotted tails. The term was not originally used in reference to actual rats, but for persons who lived off others. The original German term, Rattenkönig, was calqued into English as rat king, and into French as roi des rats. This may be a result of an entangling material like hair, a sticky substance such as sap or gum, or the tails being tied together.Ī similar phenomenon with squirrels has been observed, which has had modern documented examples. Rat king found in 1895 in Dellfeld, Germany, now in the Musée zoologique de la ville de Strasbourg, FranceĪ rat king is a collection of rats whose tails are intertwined and bound together in some way.
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