| Lemmings | |
|---|---|
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| Lemmus lemmus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Cricetidae |
| Subfamily: | Arvicolinae |
| Tribe: | Lemmini* |
| Genera | |
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Dicrostonyx |
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Lemmings are small rodents, usually found in or near the Arctic, in tundra biomes. They are subniveal animals, and together with the voles and muskrats, they make up the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae), which forms part of the largest mammal radiation by far, the superfamily Muroidea, which also includes the rats, mice, hamsters, and gerbils.
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Lemmings weigh from 30 to 112 g (1.1 to 4.0 oz) and are about 7 to 15 cm (2.8 to 5.9 in) long. They generally have long, soft fur, and very short tails. They are herbivorous, feeding mostly on leaves and shoots, grasses, and sedges in particular, but also on roots and bulbs. Like other rodents, their incisors grow continuously, allowing them to exist on much tougher forage than would normally be possible.
Lemmings do not hibernate through the harsh northern winter. They remain active, finding food by burrowing through the snow and utilizing grasses clipped and stored in advance. They are solitary animals by nature, meeting only to mate and then going their separate ways, but like all rodents they have a high reproductive rate and can breed rapidly when food is plentiful.
The behavior of lemmings is much the same as that of many other rodents which have periodic population booms and then disperse in all directions, seeking the food and shelter that their natural habitat cannot provide. Lemmings of northern Norway are one of the few vertebrates who reproduce so quickly that their population fluctuations are chaotic,[1] rather than following linear growth to a carrying capacity or regular oscillations. It is unknown why lemming populations fluctuate with such variance roughly every four years, before plummeting to near extinction.[2]
While for many years it was believed that the population of lemming predators changed with the population cycle, there is now some evidence to suggest that the predator's population may be more closely involved in changing the lemming population.[3]
Misconceptions about lemmings go back many centuries. In the 1530s, the geographer Zeigler of Strasbourg proposed the theory that the creatures fell out of the sky during stormy weather (also featured in the folklore of the Inupiat/Yupik at Norton Sound), and then died suddenly when the grass grew in spring.[4] This myth was refuted by the natural historian Ole Worm, who accepted that the lemmings could fall out of the sky but that they had been brought over by the wind rather than created by spontaneous generation. It was Worm who first published dissections of a lemming, which showed that they are anatomically similar to most other rodents, and the work of Carl Linnaeus proved that the animals had a natural origin.[5][6]
Lemmings became notoriously famous because of unsubstantiated myths that they commit mass suicide when they migrate because they dont like life on the farm. The myth may exist in more variations. In most forms it does not appear to claim a conscious suicide but rather accidental mass death due to various factors. However in popular culture the alleged behavior is usually referred to as "mass suicide" and hence discussed here as "mass suicide myth".
Driven by strong biological urges, some species of lemmings may migrate in large groups when population density becomes too great. Lemmings can and do swim and may choose to cross a body of water in search of a new habitat.[7] This fact and the extremely strong unexplained fluctuations in the population of Norwegian lemmings may have contributed to the development of the myth.
The myth of lemming "mass suicide" is long-standing and has been popularized by a number of factors. In 1955, Disney Studio illustrator Carl Barks drew an Uncle Scrooge adventure comic with the title "The Lemming with the Locket". This comic, which was inspired by a 1954 National Geographic Society article, showed massive numbers of lemmings jumping over Norwegian cliffs.[8] Even more influential was the 1958 Disney film White Wilderness, which won an Academy Award for Documentary Feature, in which staged footage was shown with lemmings jumping into sure death after faked scenes of mass migration. [9] A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary, Cruel Camera, found that the lemmings used for White Wilderness were flown from Hudson Bay to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where they did not jump off the cliff, but in fact were launched off the cliff using a turntable.[10]
In more recent times, the myth is well-known as the basis for the failed Apple Computer 1985 Super Bowl commercial Lemmings and the popular 1991 video game Lemmings, in which the player must stop the lemmings from mindlessly marching over cliffs or into traps.
Because of their association with this odd behavior, lemming suicide is a frequently used metaphor in reference to people who go along unquestioningly with popular opinion, with potentially dangerous or fatal consequences. This metaphor is seen many times in popular culture, such as in the video game Lemmings, and in episodes of Red Dwarf and Adult Swim's show Robot Chicken. In Urban Terror, falling to one's death is called doing the lemming thing.
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Wikipedia de
Lemming m. (genitive Lemmings, plural Lemminge)
| Lemmings | |||||||||||||||
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| Genera | |||||||||||||||
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Dicrostonyx | |||||||||||||||
Lemmings are small rodents, usually found in or near the Arctic, in tundra biomes.
The lemmings and voles are the rats and mice of the Arctic. The lemmings have very short tails. They live underground in summer. Because the top soil freezes in the winter, they cannot burrow underground then, so they live under the snow during the colder months. They eat plants and roots. If they find plenty of food, they wil have extra large families that year.
In a year with plenty of food, millions of lemmings will be roaming the tundra. The owls and foxes have more food than they can eat. They will have extra babies in they years when there are so many lemmings. However, the tundra does not have enough food for millions of lemmings. They rush across the tundra looking for food, and are eaten by predators or starve to death. Some try to swim across lakes or rivers and drown. The few that remain continue to have families.
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   | Alaska Wildlife News - Lemming Suicide Myth Disney Film Faked Bogus Behavior |
| | Lemmings, dying on camera - Lemmings, dying on camera |
| | Predators drive the lemming cycle in Greenland - Predators drive the lemming cycle in Greenland |
 | Alaskan mammals - Alaska Natural Heritage Program - Zoology Home Page |
| | ABC.net.au - Lemmings Suicide Myth - Lemmings Suicide Myth › In Depth (ABC Science) |
| | Hinterland Who's Who - Lemmings - Hinterland Who's Who - Lemmings |
| | Lemming Suicide Myth Disney Film Faked Bogus Behavior - Lemming Suicide Myth Disney Film Faked Bogus Behavior |
| | Lemming video at Britannica Online - lemming :: lemming (mammal) -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia |
| | Lars, the polar bear - Der kleine Eisbär - Home |
| | Half a Dozen Lemmings - www.6lemmings.com |
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