Many people believe that lemmings periodically commit mass suicides. Allegedly every few years, when the population becomes too large, animals set off in slender rows to the abyss or the river bank to commit suicide. We checked whether this is really so.

The idea of mass suicides of lemmings - small rodentsOvInhabiting in the tundra, is very common. People Believethat these rodents periodically commit mass suicides: when the population becomes too large, they themselves go to certain death, rushing from the cliffs.

Many Internet users have come across comics About the lems-samobitan. This series is created by a German artist Yoshi Zauer, and stories in it are built on the fact that rodents allegedly experience a strange passion for suicide.

Although these comics are ironic, they are based on faith in the fact that these animals periodically perform mass suicides. Lemmining-samubicians appear not only in comics, they flicker in the media, films, become characters board games.

Usually we are talking about Norwegian lemmings. These animals Live In the network of extensive tunnels underground, and the size of their populations can change very much depending on the year. When the number of lemmings is at the lowest point, the number of animals can be one per 100,000 square meters. m. But at another time, their number in the same territory can reach 3,000 individuals. It is at this moment that it is believed that lemmings voluntarily go to death.

“They say that they march to the sea and make suicide there,” - tells NILS Christian Stezhset, Norwegian biologist, professor at the University of Oslo and co -author of the book “Biology of Lemmining”.

It is believed that many factors affect such large -scale changes in the number of lemmings, one of which is snow. “If the snow is soft and dry, this allows lemmings to create a space under it in which they can exist comfortably in winter and multiply,” Streamset explains. After a couple of such winters in a row, the number of lemmings can increase greatly.

Norwegian lemming crosses the reservoir. Nature Picture Library / Alamy

And when the population growth occurs, lemmings begin to migrate. Due to the large number of animals, the already meager tundra vegetation is not enough, and lemmings have to move massively in search of new food.

The migrating hordes of these rodents, according to Stepset, are very purposeful: they are stopped by almost no obstacles, even rivers or narrow places of fjords. “They swim very well,” the biologist adds. “They easily cross small ponds.”

The idea that lemmings do not migrate, but rush from the cliffs to drown, I became Popular after the documentary film of The Walt Disney “White Wasteland” was released in 1958. In the ribbon about the northern wild nature, shots were shown how lemmings fall from the shore to the sea.

The personnel were accompanied by the speech of the dictator:

“... moving inexplicable hysteria, each [from lemmings] begins a march that will lead them to a strange fate. This fate is to jump into the ocean. They became victims of obsession, one single thought: "Go! Go!" They still have the last chance to stop, but they still move forward, dropping themselves down ... This is how the legendary mass suicide is playing. ”

In fact, these were staged personnel. The film itself was shot in the province of Albert in Canada, and not in Norway. Lemmining is not found in Albert, so they were imported there, redeeming from the interpretation of children. At the same time, there were not Norwegian lemmings, but another species - brown lemmings that live in North America. The rodents managed to get only a few dozen, and the creators of the film “increased” their number using combined filming and installation.

“It really looks like suicide,” recognizes Niels Stanset. “But they were only thrown out of the car there.”

If you look closely at the frames, it is clear that some lemmings stop before the jump, trying to turn back. This is a setting. In reality, lemmings did not perform any mass suicide.

During forced migrations, lemmings really can Jump from the cliffs, just not to drown, but to cross the water barrier. At this time, some animals can die, but not to reduce the population, but because of other factors: a lack of strength to cross water, hypothermia, hunger, etc. These deaths are by no means mass suicides, but an accident. The myth of the lemmints-samobitans appeared due to the production personnel of the “documentary” film distorting the reality.