The Behavior of Lemmings

Are They Suicidal?

Lemmings are small rodents that are usually found in or near the Artic tundra biomes. They are herbivorous animals, that feed off grasses, sedges, roots and bulbs. The weigh about 30-112 grams and are about 7-15 centimeters long. They have long soft fur and short tails.

Like many other rodents, lemmings populate rapidly then disperse in different directions in search of food and shelter. Lemmings become sexually mature after just one month and can produce 10 offspring in just one litter. Lemmings of northern Norway are one of the few vertebrates who reproduce so quickly that their population fluctuations are chaotic, rather than following linear growth to a carrying capacity or regular oscillations. Lemmings population is so rapid that in the 16th and 17th centuries there was sepeculation that lemmings were generated spontaneously by air conditions. Needless to say, that idea has been disproved.

According to The Darwin Awards website, there is a very big misconception about lemmings. You have probably heard about how lemmings commit mass suicides by jumping off cliffs. This misconception is widely credited to Disney. In 1985 Disney made a nature movie called White Wilderness. In this movie they included lemmings jumping off a clif and into the sea as documentation of their suicidal nature. They paid Inuit children from Manitoba 25 cents for each lemming they caught. Wikipedia states that the filmmakers were the ones to push the lemmings off the cliff.

According to Darwin, this information is untrue. It is stated that during over population, lemmings are much more likely to kill eachother than themselves. Since Lemmings do not hibernate, the must migrate during the harsh northern winter. When such migrations occur, some lemmings die by falling over cliffs or drowning in lakes or rivers. These are accidental deaths caused by the lemmings being in unfamiliar territory. The density of their population while mirgration may have caused them to be pushed over a cliff. Or they may mistake a large river for a small stream, thus drowning themselves.