They're just following the trail of pheromones ahead of them. It goes around in circles so they'll just walk and walk until they die of exhaustion.
Never heard about it so had to read up on it, it's as obscure as a rat king to me.
rat kings are mostly fake though
Current sience says it's very rare, but can happen naturally. There are multiple confirmed modern sightings.
I did say "most," 1963, 2005 and 2021 are the only real ones I can find.
Compared to there being dozens in the 17th and 18th centuries
I imagine we did more rat watching back then.
They didn't have YouTube.
RatTube. Where it's just, you watch a tube with rats in it.
Like a kaleidoscope!
But this one eats you when you look down it! Hooray!
What makes you say that?
reason why i said "most" not "all" most examples are from the 17th and 18th century when proof was hard to ascertain and there have only been a handful of modern occurring examples since the prevalence of science and photography
Far fewer rats living like they did in the 17th and 18th century nowadays, though. It really feels like one of those things where it's difficult to prove either way since the conditions cannot be duplicated in modern times. I'm still leaning towards more being faked, but not having huge chunks of a population living in 17th century squalor may be a factor in whether or not a rat king could actually form.
Far fewer rats living like they did in the 17th and 18th century nowadays, though.
TIL rats also have wealthy capitalists siphoning the means of production. Imagine being a rat back then. All the free food and squalor. Makes sense there would be more kings!
fair. but having gone through a phase where I read all of Crowley, Eteilla, Charles Fort, bunch of Golden Dawn / Rosicrucian texts etc I just get this feeling that it was hokum most of the time for dramatic effect
They're just following the trail of pheromones ahead of them. It goes around in circles so they'll just walk and walk until they die of exhaustion.
Never heard about it so had to read up on it, it's as obscure as a rat king to me.
rat kings are mostly fake though
Current sience says it's very rare, but can happen naturally. There are multiple confirmed modern sightings.
I did say "most," 1963, 2005 and 2021 are the only real ones I can find.
Compared to there being dozens in the 17th and 18th centuries
I imagine we did more rat watching back then.
They didn't have YouTube.
RatTube. Where it's just, you watch a tube with rats in it.
Like a kaleidoscope!
But this one eats you when you look down it! Hooray!
What makes you say that?
reason why i said "most" not "all" most examples are from the 17th and 18th century when proof was hard to ascertain and there have only been a handful of modern occurring examples since the prevalence of science and photography
Far fewer rats living like they did in the 17th and 18th century nowadays, though. It really feels like one of those things where it's difficult to prove either way since the conditions cannot be duplicated in modern times. I'm still leaning towards more being faked, but not having huge chunks of a population living in 17th century squalor may be a factor in whether or not a rat king could actually form.
TIL rats also have wealthy capitalists siphoning the means of production. Imagine being a rat back then. All the free food and squalor. Makes sense there would be more kings!
fair. but having gone through a phase where I read all of Crowley, Eteilla, Charles Fort, bunch of Golden Dawn / Rosicrucian texts etc I just get this feeling that it was hokum most of the time for dramatic effect
Fair enough.