LEMMINGS

LEMMINGS

Walther Disney made a nature film about the lemmings, showing them committing suicide by throwing themselves over a cliff. Therefore, it was widely believed that they do that. Later on, he admitted that he faked it. On account of these supposed suicide mission the lemmings became a popular rodent. Information about these animals revealed they just fleeing their homes because of heavy breeding which would have led to starvation.

Another reason for this belief was that in Norway huge numbers are found dead when there is a population explosion. The problem is that every four years the families grew to such a size that their burrow is more than overcrowded. Therefore, the result is food shortage such as roots, grass, and lichens. A huge numbers of lemmings leave to look for a new home and they are mostly young males.

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These lemmings will cover great distances. They cross lakes and glaciers. When they come to a river or fjord, they will only swim across if they can see the other side. Then it can happen that there is a strong wind, all over sudden, coming up or strong currents and this will cause them to be swept away, unless they manage to get to some land by chance. When they drowned owls, weasels, and foxes will have a field day and unexpected provision of meals.

A female lemming gives birth to a large litter and this before she is not even a year old. In a season a female can have up to six litters of approx 13 young if there is plenty of food. This number from one female, and there are several females in one population could result into as many as 100 - 250 lemmings per 2 1/2 acres. The result is 30 times higher than it is normally in an average year. Therefore a mass dispersal only happened after a high breeding season, in other words, abundance of food.

Another interesting point, after this high breeding season occurs their breeding habit change. Fewer lemmings are born and the females take longer to reach adulthood. Maybe it is because the food is scarcer and therefore the population gets rapidly lower.

Nowadays we mostly knew the lemmings from the fascinating games. There is no doubt these games are absolutely lovely. The production of these games is very enjoyable and still available. However, the real animal and facts are they are rodent even it looks adorable but their family live and habits are interesting nevertheless.

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