Free Republic

The brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) is one of the most ubiquitous and familiar creatures on the planet — but also perhaps one of the least understood. According to Kaylee Byers, one of the lead researchers with the Vancouver Rat Project, "In some ways, we know more about life on Mars than how rats navigate life on Earth." "Rats have long been associated with filth, disease and death," said Bobby Corrigan, a world-renowned rodentologist and New York City's unofficial "rat czar."

A rat king, or “roi de rats” in French, is a collection of rats whose tails are intertwined and bound together. It typically occurs when young rats, sleeping together in close quarters, get their tails entangled, forming a knot. The tied tails are prone to being encrusted by dirt, or stuck together by substances such as sap, sebum, blood, food, faeces or urine. When the rats wake up and attempt to scurry away from each other, the knot then tightens, trapping them.