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A pair of NYC rats were caught on video locking lips inside a Kips Bay restaurant window in what looked like an oddly tender moment — that experts said was anything but.
Kips Bay resident Jack Knobloch stumbled upon the revolting but fascinating scene in the now-shuttered Meze Mazi restaurant on Third Avenue on May 9.
“I was just like, this is, you know, a scene out of New York. This is crazy,” Knobloch, 34, told The Post. “I see rats everywhere in the city, but I’ve never seen them doing anything like that.”
He said the randy rats looked like they’d been hot and heavy for a good minute.
“It just looked like they were kind of poking their faces together,” he said.
Knobloch, who shared the now viral video on TikTok with the caption “Summer love in the Big Apple” to the tune of Ratatouille’s “Le Festin,” woke up the next day to a flurry of comments. The video was also reshared by New Yorkers Instagram account.
“And people complain dating in New York is hard,” quipped Jonah Larrama.
But New Yorkers finding creature comfort in what appeared like a heartwarming moment will be sorely disappointed.
The vibe between the two is likely hate, not love, experts said.
“The rat on the left is showing a classic submissive upright posture as the rat on the right approaches – head up, belly exposed,” said Jane Hurst, Head of Mammalian Behaviour and Evolution at the University of Liverpool.
“You will see that the rat on the left has nowhere to go . . . The rat on the right is then sniffing the facial area of the submissive rat, deciding whether to attack or not,” she explained.
“If it does, the rat on the left will have no choice but to fight back as it can’t escape.”
A 2022 inspection by the city Health Department of Meze Mazi found “evidence of mice or live mice” and conditions that were “conducive to attracting vermin to the premises.” It received a “B” grade. The restaurant’s website says it’s currently closed for renovations.
English (US)