Squirrel king

A squirrel king is a collection of squirrels whose tails have tangled together, making them unable to separate themselves.[1] It is similar to a phenomenon recorded in rats, the rat king.[2] A squirrel king starts as a litter of young in the same nest, whose tails become knotted together by nesting materials and/or by tree sap gluing the tails together, particularly if the young squirrels have been gnawing bark of the tree that their nest is in, letting sap flow. If the squirrels are not separated, they may fall to the ground still joined to each other when they try to come out of their nest, and will invariably die unless separated through human intervention.[3][4] Unlike the rat king, the squirrel king is not found in medieval European literature.[5]

The term rat king comes from the German, Rattenkönig, used to describe persons who lived off others. An 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,[6] because formerly French oi was pronounced [we] or similar; nowadays it is pronounced [wa].

List of naturally occurring incidents
Occurrence Quantity of squirrels Location Country Description and outcome
September 1989 4 Easton, Pennsylvania United States of America They were severely injured and euthanized.[5]
1991 5 Baltimore, Maryland United States of America They were tangled and glued together by tree sap. They were successfully separated. Of the 5, 2 were albino squirrels.[5]
July 1997 5 Brantford, Ontario Canada They were tangled and glued together by tree sap. They were successfully separated.[5]
June 2013 6 Regina, Saskatchewan Canada They were tangled and glued together by tree sap. They were successfully separated alive.[4][7][8]
26 August 2013 5 Michigan City, Indiana United States of America Babies were almost euthanized after initial failures at separation. The day after disentanglement they returned to their mother.[9]
November 2014 3 Maryland United States of America Glued together by tree sap.[10]
29 April 2016 3 Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania United States of America Juveniles were successfully untangled.[11]
May 2016 5 Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada Babies were successfully separated.[12]
21 May 2017 4 Bangor, Maine United States of America Juveniles were successfully separated, then released that day to reunite with their mother.[13]
mid-May 2018 6 Elkhorn, Nebraska United States of America 8-week-olds were successfully untangled, and all lived.[14]
Summer 2018 4 Nova Scotia Canada By the time the juveniles were discovered, 3 had died. To separate them, the tail of the survivor had to be amputated.[15]
mid-September 2018 4 Loveland, Colorado United States of America Babies were successfully separated at the Larimer Humane Society.[16]
23 September 2018 3 Boulder, Colorado United States of America They were successfully untangled.[17]
September 2018 5 Wisconsin United States of America They were successfully untangled.[1]
May 2019 4 Stockton on Tees, County Durham, England United Kingdom Babies were successfully separated.[18][19]
19 September 2019 4 Beacon Falls, Connecticut United States of America Babies were successfully separated, however, part of 1 tail needed to be amputated.[20]
10 September 2020 5 Multnomah Village, Oregon United States of America Babies were separated.[21]
24 May 2021 5 Duluth, Minnesota United States of America Five young squirrels found in a compost pile stuck together by their tails. Gathered babies in a cardboard box to transport to local vet parking lot to free them. All babies were rescued and they ran away shortly after.
1 October 2021 7 Grand Blanc Township, Michigan United States of America Babies were successfully separated by police officers.[22]
11 September 2023 5 Norfolk, Massachusetts United States of America Five babies were rescued after falling out of their nest due to tails being stuck together with tree sap.[23]

Unnatural incidents

There have been incidents of animal cruelty or taxidermic artwork, where humans tied the tails of squirrels together, making something resembling the natural squirrel king.

Incidents of animal cruelty
  • On 19 September 2019, 4 squirrels were found knotted together and tied up, on railroad tracks in Berlin, Connecticut, USA. They survived to be separated, but needed some amputation. In order to tie them up, the person who performed the act had to break their tails.[24][25]

References
  1. Katherine Hignett (17 September 2018). "Squirrel King: Five Creatures Tied Together by Their Own Tails Discovered in Wisconsin". Newsweek.
  2. Lucas Reilly (24 October 2017). "An (Almost) Comprehensive History of Rat Kings". Mental Floss.
  3. Jaime Allen (21 September 2018). "What a Tangled Web a Few Squirrels' Tails Can Weave". ? How Stuff Works. InfoSpace Holdings.
  4. "Tangled Squirrels Rescued By Regina Animal Clinic (PHOTOS)". The Huffington Post Canada. 13 June 2013.
  5. Bob Rickard; John Michell (2007). The Rough Guide to Unexplained Phenomena. Penguin. p. 418. ISBN 978-1-4053-8456-8.
  6. Hart, Martin (1982). Rats. Translated from 1973 Dutch edn by Arnold J. Pomerans. Allison & Busby. pp. 66–67. ISBN 0-85031-297-3.
  7. Kaushik Patowary (15 February 2018). "Rat King: The Mysterious Conjoined Creature". Amusing Planet.
  8. Emma Flint (13 June 2013). "Handling A Squirrel King Situation". The Inquisitr.
  9. Stan Maddux (28 August 2013). "Baby squirrels rescued after tails' tangled, tied". NWI Times. Munster, Indiana, USA.
  10. Angie Barnes. "Man Finds Real Life 'Rat King' In His Yard When These Squirrels Get Their Tails Tangled". Honest to Paws.
  11. "WATCH: Woman Helps Three Squirrels Tangled By Their Tails". CBS 2 Pittsburgh. 5 May 2016.
  12. CBC News (23 May 2016). "5 tangled squirrels rescued by Winnipeg man". CBC.
  13. Aislinn Sarnacki (22 May 2017). "Four baby squirrels with tails tangled together rescued by Bangor men". Bangor Daily News.
  14. Michael O'Connor (18 May 2018). "How a wildlife expert rescued 6 baby squirrels in Elkhorn whose tails were knotted together". Omaha World-Herald.
  15. "Eagle Has Flown". Hope for Wildlife. Season 8. Episode 8. 25 January 2019.
  16. Shawn Patrick (19 September 2018). "Four Squirrels Got Their Tails Tangled in Colorado". Y96.9 iHeart Radio.
  17. Mitchell Byars (25 September 2018). "Boulder police rescue trio of squirrels with tangled tails". The Denver Post.
  18. Leanne Plumtree (10 May 2019). "Baby squirrels found in tall tail tangle". RSPCA News. Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (England and Wales).
  19. Carolyn McGinn (13 May 2019). "A member of the public came to the aid of the stuck squirrels". Vets-Now.com.
  20. "Baby Squirrels Found With Tails Tied Together: Animal Hospital". NBC 10 Boston. 20 September 2019.
  21. Dutilh, Guillaume. "Squirrel King - saving 5 juvenile squirrels with their tails tangled and full of sap". YouTube. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12.
  22. Koop, Chacour (1 October 2021). "Seven baby squirrels got their tails in a knot. Then Michigan cops stepped in to help". Kansas City Star.
  23. Sausville, Suzanne (11 September 2023). "'Sap Tail' Puts Norfolk Squirrels In A Sticky Situation". WBZ News Radio.
  24. Stephen Sorace (22 September 2019). "Baby squirrels found on Connecticut train tracks with tails 'braided' together in suspected animal abuse". Fox News.
  25. Scottie Andrew (23 September 2019). "Four baby squirrels were found with their tails braided together. Vets think it could be animal abuse". CNN.

Further reading
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