Squirrel king


A squirrel king is a collection of squirrels whose tails have tangled together, making them unable to separate themselves. It is similar to a phenomenon recorded in rats, the rat king. 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. Unlike the rat king, the squirrel king is not found in medieval European literature.

List of naturally occurring incidents

OccurrenceQuantity of squirrelsLocationCountryDescription and outcome
September 19894Easton, PennsylvaniaUnited States of AmericaThey were severely injured and euthanized.
19915Baltimore, MarylandUnited States of AmericaThey were tangled and glued together by tree sap. They were successfully separated. Of the 5, 2 were albino squirrels.
July 19975Brantford, OntarioCanadaThey were tangled and glued together by tree sap. They were successfully separated.
June 20136Regina, SaskatchewanCanadaThey were tangled and glued together by tree sap. They were successfully separated alive.
26 August 20135Michigan City, IndianaUnited States of AmericaBabies were almost euthanized after initial failures at separation. The day after disentanglement they returned to their mother.
November 20143MarylandUnited States of AmericaGlued together by tree sap.
29 April 20163Beaver Falls, PennsylvaniaUnited States of AmericaJuveniles were successfully untangled.
May 20165Winnipeg, ManitobaCanadaBabies were successfully separated.
21 May 20174Bangor, MaineUnited States of AmericaJuveniles were successfully separated, then released that day to reunite with their mother.
mid-May 20186Elkhorn, NebraskaUnited States of America8-week-olds were successfully untangled, and all lived.
Summer 20184Nova ScotiaCanadaBy the time the juveniles were discovered, 3 had died. To separate them, the tail of the survivor had to be amputated.
mid-September 20184Loveland, ColoradoUnited States of AmericaBabies were successfully separated at the Larimer Humane Society.
23 September 20183Boulder, ColoradoUnited States of AmericaThey were successfully untangled.
September 20185WisconsinUnited States of AmericaThey were successfully untangled.
May 20194Stockton on Tees, County Durham, EnglandUnited KingdomBabies were successfully separated.
19 September 20194Beacon Falls, ConnecticutUnited States of AmericaBabies were successfully separated, however, part of 1 tail needed to be amputated.
10 September 20205Multnomah Village, OregonUnited States of AmericaBabies were separated.
24 May 20215Duluth, MinnesotaUnited States of AmericaFive 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 20217Grand Blanc Township, MichiganUnited States of AmericaBabies were successfully separated by police officers.
14 May 20227Seaforth, ONCanadaBabies were successfully separated.
September 20233Eagan, MinnesotaUnited States of AmericaThree adolescent squirrels found in a brush pile with entangled tails. All three tails needed to be partially amputated. Food and water were provided; two of three survived and ran off.
11 September 20235Norfolk, MassachusettsUnited States of AmericaFive babies were rescued after falling out of their nest due to tails being stuck together with tree sap.
11 September 20245Bend, OregonUnited States of AmericaSeveral squirrels were pictured stuck together and unstuck by a local wildlife organization.
30 September 20245Erie, ColoradoUnited States of AmericaFive juvenile squirrels fell out of an ash tree. Overnighted in a cardboard box, in a garage, before being successfully separated by a local wildlife organization the next day. All were released, within 20 hours, back to the tree from which they fell.
6 June 20255Dwight, OntarioCanadaFive squirrels — three babies, one juvenile, and one adult — stuck together with sap, leaves, and a string. Adult squirrel pulled loose on its own, damaging tail. Juvenile and babies were successfully separated with soapy water.

Non-natural 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.